San Francisco’s 154th weekend celebration of Italian Heritage began on Friday night, October 7, with a lovely reception at the Italian Consulate hosted by our Consul General Sergio Strozzi for Queen Isabella and her Court, their parents, and the Italian Heritage Celebration Board of Directors. The next night the Italian Heritage Celebration hosted its first post-pandemic Grande Ballo at the beautifully historic former Hibernia Bank in San Francisco, with the crowning of Queen Isabella, Filomina Torchy Prudente Reilly, the knighting of Christopher Columbus as portrayed by Joseph Cervetto, Jr., and the presentation of the Royal Court (Princess, Duchesses, Contessas, Ladies in

It’s with much sadness that before I write the article about our United Lodges Columbus Day Dinner, I speak of the sudden passing of State Orator Manny Finazzo. He will be very much missed by all. We, of United Lodges of Southern California, were honored to have him represent our State President, Barbara Wisniewski at our Columbus Day Dinner.
On behalf of the officers and member

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am honored to have been given the opportunity to help grow our membership and promote the wonderful culture we share through our Italian Roots and American Branches.
It’s been and exciting month of researching best practices and getting set up to help with ideas that will increase our membership and attract new members.
I met with our Web Master Anna Graeber, and she taught me how to create mailing lists, and postcards that go out to all people of Italian Heritage within a certain distance and invite them to a Lodge event or meeting. I tested it out for My home Lodge of Sacramento #1352 and it was a huge success. We had several people respond and even attend our dinner. They all said they were thrilled

The 85th Grand Lodge of California Convention was held in the beautiful Double Tree by Hilton Anaheim/Orange County California. Our Host Lodges were the Anaheim Lodge #2076 and Renaissance Lodge #2259. They did a wonderful job making us feel welcomed.

On Wednesday we held the Bocce Tournament. Everyone had a wonderful time, and the cream did rise to the top with the winning team of Louie Lodi (First Vice President), Al Girolami (Columbia Lodge), Dan

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I want to continue to give updates to you on important topics, rather than wait for meetings like plenaries and conventions.

Firstly, I would like to introduce to you our new employee, Michael Howard, who was recently hired as a member of the National Office staff as Bookkeeper/Administrative Assistant.

Michael graduated from Florida A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and brings previous accounting, financial auditing, and not-for-profit board member experience to our team.

Michael is highly motivated, eager to learn and has already proven to be a positive addition to the culture in our National Office! He works closely with Shayla Kaestle, CPA, learning the details of OSDIA finances and implementing various process improvements. Michael will be responsible for accounting tasks, office mailings, and other administrative work. We look forward to his future with us. Please feel free to call the National Office to welcome Michael to the OSDIA team.

I want to also thank Shayla as the professional time she has put in working on our books, and with Michal and our new accountant we will literally save approximately $80,000/year in accounting services and render a more professional and competent work product. Miles Fisher, the long-time Editor-in-Chief of our Italian America magazine, recently accepted a job offer from his previous employer to return as a manager. We thank Miles for his many