I am overwhelmed with emotions from all the phone calls, emails, and texts from you, offering assistance with our Grand Lodge workings. As I have said before, we will all have to work together to get our Grand Lodge back to its former glory. Membership needs to be a priority. As a Grand Lodge or National Lodge, we can save Columbus Day, we can get Italian Language Seats in Universities, we can get respect for our wonderful culture, and we can make a better place for our Italian American children and grandchildren. We can raise large amounts of money for charities, both local and national.

After this pandemic, people are looking for places to get out and about; to have fun but contribute to worthy causes, to learn about their heritage. Reach out to them. Show them the fun you have at your Lodges and the worthy causes you help fund. Don’t wait for them to come to you. Go to them. Go to the Bocce courts, sponsor a sports team, get some PR out in the neighborhood. You know best where to go locally.

We had our first Executive Council meeting and am very pleased

I know everyone is looking forward to getting back to the “new normal”, attending meetings, cooking dinners, fundraising and attending celebrations. A lot of things we all have missed over the last almost 18 months. Time is coming for this to happen, but we still have to be cautious.

We are in the midst of currently planning our “ZOOM” State Convention; this will be new for all of us so please be patient. The plan is to take care of business in morning then our National 1st Vice President has asked to speak to the convention delegates; afterwards we will have installation of the new officers. This will take everyone’s cooperation to achieve this but I have confidence in all of you.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s day celebration. For many this was the first time to see our families” safely”. The next celebration is Father’s day. Again please everyone be careful.

It is nice to see that many Lodges are slowly meeting

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday celebration, with families. We are getting closer to a normal lifestyle. But do we remember what normal is? I for one am more than ever thankful for family. Being happy with what you have. Enjoy spending time with your family. Slowing down and taking the time to smell the roses.

We as a social organization are slowly making our ways back to having in person meetings and some simple fundraising events. Please listen to your county officials and follow the guidelines, this way we can socialize once again.

As I mentioned last month our State Convention will be done by “Zoom” this year. The date of our Convention will be

As I write this we (your Grand Council) just completed a virtual “Zoom” Grand Council Meeting. Thank you to all the officers for your patience and it was nice to see a few other lodge members sit in. This has not been an easier year for our filial lodges, but I know we will overcome. All of the Grand Lodge business was taken care of.

Our State Convention will be done by “Zoom” also this year. The date of our Convention will be June 26th 2021, Mark your calendars. This will be an interesting task, more information will follow shortly. As I stated last month, this is an election year. Those members who wish to run for an office within the Grand Lodge please sends a letter of intent to our State Recording Secretary Lori Rossi.

As our counties begin to open up, please remember

We are now one fourth of the way thru the New Year. Things are looking better. We have to stay positive! Last year at this time I was planning on going to Disneyland prior to our Grand Council meeting in Torrance, but things changed on March 16th, the state of California pretty much shut down? Who would have thought we would still be making our way towards the right direction a year later.

On February 13th I was on a “Zoom” meeting with National OSDIA. We were supposed to be meeting in South Carolina, but instead everyone was in thier home. Our National President Nancy has done an excellent job in leading