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

First of all, we would like to clarify that we perfectly know that many people don’t celebrate Christmas and that this festivity is especially associated to the Christian religion, the birth of Jesus Christ, the three Wise Men etc, but here in Italy Christmas is by now associated to many other things that have nothing to do with the religion, such as:

1. TO GO SHOPPING
Christmas is a festivity that is characterized by conspicuous consumption: in spite of the cold and the low temperatures, many people flood in the streets – rigorously decorated with lights and decorations – to crowd

San Francisco’s 153rd celebration of Italian Heritage came back with a roar, even with Covid-19 restrictions in place. On Friday night, October 8th, the Italian Heritage weekend began with the crowning of Queen Isabella, Grace Ann Cardenas, the knighting of Christopher Columbus as portrayed by Joseph Cervetto, Jr., and the presentation of the Royal Court (Princess, Duchesses, Contessas, Ladies in Waiting, Crown Bearer and Scroll Bearer) at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club in North Beach. This was followed by a public presentation of the Queen and Court in Washington Square Park, and then Sergio Strozzi, Italian Consul General, flipped a light switch that illuminated Saints Peter & Paul’s Italian Cathedral and the Club with the colors of the Italian flag. Even City Hall was aglow with the Green, White, and Red. Beautiful! The next night, there was a lovely reception at the Italian Consulate for the Court, their families, and the Board of DiSunday morning started with a solemn High Mass at Saints Peter and