To My Sisters & Brothers of OSDIA,

February was a busy month. I attended events at the Redding, Chico, and Weed Lodges. The meals were Crab-solutely amazing! On February 10th, I traveled to Redding for their famous Crab Feast. There were 400 people in attendance. The raffle prizes were unbelievable, and the night was fun! The Lodge pulled out all the stops and returned the next night to host 400 more people for a second night of crab. On February 16th I installed the new officers at the Vincenzo Bellini Lodge in Chico. It was a great meeting with all the members. The President, Tony George is doing a great job in Chico. On the 18th I traveled to the Big Town of Weed for their Crab Feed. The meal was Clawsome

To My Sisters & Brothers of OSDIA,

First, I would like to apologize because I did not have my monthly article in the Il Leone last month. Covid finally found me in December. I was lucky that I did not catch it in the beginning of the month, because I wanted to help move the Grand Lodge to Sacramento. Speaking of that, we were able to locate a temporary office space plus a large storage building in the Sacramento area, so now we are just looking for a great place to permanently base our Grand Lodge.

On January 19th, I went to the Roseville

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I’m sorry to start this article on a sad note but our dear friend Manny Finazzo passed away suddenly on October 15th. Manny held several positions over the last 20 years, currently as Orator of the Grand Council. I am sad to say that I did not know him well but to say hi in passing at conventions, until last year. I began to know him better when collaborating with him on the Grand Council. He was always there to help if I had a question about a rule

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

First off, some people have asked me where my IL Leone article was last month. I must apologize as I spent a little too much time in that 100-degree weather and it knocked me for a loop, but I am recovered now.

Our Grand Council Meeting in Fresno was very busy. We covered a lot of issues in the day and half but the most important was the selling of The Grand Lodge. I am happy to report that the company interested in the purchasing of The Grand Lodge is extremely anxious and optimistic to work with us.

After a long meeting on Saturday, we all traveled to the Fresno Fair Grounds where we attended the Columbo-Stella Lodge’s 100th Anniversary Celebration. Olivia Deliddo and company wooed everyone with their hospitality and raffle. What was so impressive was all the past scholarship recipients

The OSDIA Convention in June was a success, and everyone had a wonderful time! Congratulations to Barbara Wisniewski, Lynn Lawrence Murphy, Lori Rossi, and Ervin Siax for all their hard work and dedication in making this event a success! On July 16th, the Gold Country Lodge #2705 celebrated their 26th Anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, they honored one of the founding members, Angelo Battaglia. He unfortunately passed away just a few weeks prior to his 100th Birthday.

Angelo was born on July 21st, 1922, in Yonkers, New York to