Into each life a little rain must fall, and in 2020 I think we had a torrential downpour. This year started out as every year, filled with plans and activities for our lodge, such as our Annual Crab Feed (which we were able to do), our Scholarship Dinner, Convention, the Annual Gene Bruno Picnic and so many other projects, but then Covid 19 hit our world with a vengeance and the world came to a screeching halt. It has truly been the year that was bringing on new challenges for not only our lodge, but for all the lodges. We have had to come up with some creative ideas for our activities, a new way of having board meetings, some activities had to be postponed while others had to be temporarily dropped for the time being. So, with that being said, I will attempt to sum up 2020 to the best of my ability.

January started off as usual with our annual Crab Feed, held at the Fairfield Senior Center. We had 250 guests in attendance where we served 48 pounds of pasta, 20 gallons of sauce, bread, salad and 800 pounds of our guest of honor The CRAB. Beautiful gift baskets, good food, good company, I’d say a good time was had by all. In

February we welcomed new members Lauretta Graham,

Despite the pandemic Eureka Lodge #1274 will award the Irene and Paul Pinochi and Frank Stagnoli Scholarships this spring. Please remind your grandchildren or friends with children of Italian descent that application materials are available now from their high school counselors or by calling Dianne Luzzi at 442-8812 tohave an application sent directly to them.

The Eureka Lodge’s activities suspended after March 2020 but up until then 2019 proved to be a banner year for our lodge:

• On April 28th 2019 we held a very successful polenta dinner at St Bernard High.

• John Salizzoni, Joe Bonino, and Jeanne Oneil attended the 2019 state Grand Lodge Convention at Reno, Nevada, in June.

• On September 8th, 2019, the annual Italian Accordion Festival and Bocce Tournament was well attended.

Happy New Year! 2021, I feel like none of us really got to celebrate our holidays, milestones and birthdays, I think we can be allowed to keep our ages from 2020. Hopefully, you all had a Merry Christmas, wherever you were, and however you celebrated.

Since we are still under our State Covid 19 guidelines, we are still not meeting for the foreseeable future. Just because we have access to a vaccine, it does not mean we can be lax in our lives. Please keep wearing your masks and social distancing. Wash your hands often and limit contact with people outside

The Changing of Traditions…..The Vallejo Lodges transformed their traditional December Holiday Dinner of Roast Beef & Ravioli, into a highly successful Curbside Pickup Event. At this point in time, it’s not possible to gather at our lodge hall for a crowded family style dinner and so a new way to serve dinner happened on Saturday, December 12th. Our cooks— Rick Branch, John Costa and Glen Rushing prepared the roast beef & ravioli with meat sauce. The food assembly line also included Rick Silveira. Taylor Rojas handled the bagging. Donna Branch served as the liaison person between the kitchen and the speedy delivery team of Chrissy Bini and Edgar Nuno. Outside to handle the financial details were Melanie Rushing and Beatrice President, Pamela Bini. Over 130 dinners went home to be enjoyed. And though people’s smiles

Saddleback Valley Lodge finished 2019 with a festive Christmas party and anticipation of a new year filled with activities with several new members. These are the ingredients for a successful year for the Sons and Daughters of Italy in America. With 2020 ahead, we celebrated January with our favorite game—Bingo. And then there was preparation for our annual Carnivale in February. A new venue gave us a better place to hold our party and make it even more elaborate. It was our best celebration ever! Delicious food, music & dancing, and a costume contest made the event spectacular! At the regular meeting we celebrated St. Valentine’s Day where our President gave all the women a rose. How will we ever match this in 2021? St. Patrick’s Day is always a reason to have a party. We heard rumors of a Chinese virus coming to the USA