After record breaking regular season, Knights of Columbus take steak sales on the road

This past Christmas season, the small building next to Coleman-Morse was brightly lit, standing out among the otherwise dark building. Unknown to many, the building is the home of Council 1477 of the Knights of Columbus, a worldwide Catholic fraternal organization. Committed to philanthropy and their faith, Notre Dame’s college Knights have gained attention for their game day steak sandwiches sales. This year, after raising a record $100,127.45 from sandwich sales at Notre Dame, the Knights took the sales to the Citrus Bowl.

Setting up camp in front of their building on South Quad each gameday, the Knights grill and sell the sandwiches until just before game time, when they hurriedly break down the sale and rush to the stadium to make it just before kickoff. While the sales can grow hectic because of the volume of steaks they sell (up to 3,000 a game), according to junior Andrew Rebholz, the Knights’ Chancellor and head of steak sales, “the sales serve to strengthen the fraternity we enjoy as a band of brothers united in Christ.” Each new year, Knights create new traditions, such as this year’s indescribable dance done by Rebholz and his second in command sophomore Advocate Mark Spretnjak, as well as older ones such as the “Go Irish! Steak Sandwich!” chant.

The 2017 football season proved a landmark football season because it marked the first time the the Knights took steak sales on the road, this year to the Citrus Bowl. According to Spretnjak, this has been a longstanding goal of the council, as “Council 1477 has been trying to hold a steak sale at a bowl game for over 20 years. This year, “by contacting the Athletic Department, [the knights] were put in contact with the team at the Citrus Bowl who helped us to gain a spot in the Fan Zone.” With the help of Orlando Councils coordinating supplies and contributing gameday labor, the Knights were able to successfully run the event. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate as rain hit the area during peak lunch rush. Monetarily, the Knights broke even but donated hundreds of steaks and related food to the homeless shelters in Orlando and Daytona. The Knights considered it a successful proof of concept event, and look forward to continuing steak sales at future bowl games.

Rebholz remarked to the Irish Rover that “We drove over 3000 miles, showered not often enough, and ate way too much red meat in the span of a weekend.” “It was an amazing experience–we put a lot of work in to make a lot of good happen, and that is the sort of change we Knights constantly strive to accomplish,” continued Rebholz. “Our crew had an amazing time bonding at one of the best Notre Dame football games I’ve ever seen (Miles Boykin, we love you), and the sale was an amazing success.”

2017 was also a watershed year for the Knights because Council 1477 raised a record amount of money for charity. “This was the first year that our council has raised over six figures, so that has been a momentous milestone for us guys, who truly are just a bunch of college-aged dudes doing our best to help out,” said Rebholz, the Knights’ Chancellor for the 2017-2018 school year. “As always, the steak sales themselves worked to strengthen the fraternity we enjoy as a band of brothers united in Christ.”

According to Rebholz, all of the money that the Knights raise is donated to various charities, both local and national. Local organizations include the Catholic Worker, the Women’s Care Center, Corvilla, and the Center for the Homeless while national projects include the Knights’ hurricane relief fund and disaster relief for those hurt by the California wildfire.

According to Spretnjak, this year’s record success “is largely due to the hard work of our Chancellor Andrew Rebholz” as well as the work put in by previous chancellors such as Henry Dickman, Brendan Coyne, and Kyle Hendrix, who worked to refine the process, passing on guidance and notes to the following chancellors. For manpower, the Knights rely on member volunteers. This year, many of the “70 new members [who joined] in the fall semester” as well as older members took part in the sale.

Overall, Rebholz said “[i]t has been a privilege to organize the steak sales this year, to break records and to try new things that may take the Knights to future bowl games. I for one have been honored to have been in the position I was, since the hard work was no burden with my brothers all around me. Truly, there was no work that wasn’t mixed with play, the jokes and fraternal shenanigans making the sales more of a pleasure than an actual responsibility. Good times, and God’s work… I’m excited to see what we can do next fall.”

Any Catholic male interested in joining the Knights and helping with future steak sales can contact Knights Advocate Mark Spretnjak at spretnjak.2@nd.edu or stop by the building for more information.

Alison O’Neil is a sophomore History and Environmental Sciences major. She is a failed vegetarian and a self-described “big fan” of steak in its myriad forms. Contact her at aoneil1@nd.edu.