Colombo-Stella Lodge 1149

Hello to all. This is Italian Heritage Month. I know it’s hard to not be heartbroken by all the division and recent violence in our world right now. Italians immigrating here had a lot of hatred, they were victims of the largest mass lynching in New Orleans. One of the ways America helped ease the tensions was by making Columbus Day a federal holiday. Seeing his statues being torn down are heartbreaking, we all have our own opinions about this great explorer. OSDIA recently sent guidelines dealing with how to address this, should you need to. I emailed the guidelines to our members, if you did not receive them, please contact me, or 1st Vice President Pauline Richmond.

On September 22, our Lodge would have celebrated our 98th Anniversary. We were very sad to have had to cancel our annual fundraiser to celebrate it, but felt it was necessary to keep our friends and family safe. We appreciate all of our donors who have helped us through the years and hope we are able to celebrate next year.

Several months ago, youth member Luca Fanucchi came to me and asked if he could run a fundraiser for our Scholarship Fund. He said he would get all of the prizes donated, make all the calls to friends, family and businesses, and collect all the money. He would do it by phone and mail, staying safe in this pandemic. We agreed that I would pull 10 winning tickets at his dad’s office on the day that should have been our 98th Anniversary Fundraiser. The prizes were 10 gift cards to local restaurants valued at $100.00 each. The winners were: Cracked Pepper: Ed Dunkle, Annex Kitchen: Michael Giovannetti, Parma Ristorante: Steve Campos, Cosmopolitan Grill: Pat Harter, Trelio: Mickael Mikaelian, Bella Pasta: Lisa Smittcamp, Five: Joan Rubalcava, Manhattan Steakhouse: Rene Zuzuarrequi, The LimeLight: Harvey Armas, and DiCicco’s: Steve Barsotti. Congratulations to our winners. We are extremely proud of Luca. This was a very successful fundraiser for our youth, and the ONLY fundraiser we will have for quite awhile.

Thank you also, to our member and Luca’s dad, Eddie Fanucchi, for his generosity to our Lodge.

Our Lodge awarded a $1,500.00 scholarship to youth member Savanah Anderson. It SHOULD have been awarded to her on Sept 15, which should have been the night of our 98th Anniversary Dinner. Savanah worked very hard, has overcome much and still maintained a 4.0 GPA in her Senior year, earning the Principal’s Honor Roll her entire high school career. I am very sad that I was not able to hand her this very special scholarship that we gave in memory of our beloved Jo Potter, who was our Recording Secretary for over 30 years and a Colombo- Stella member for over 50 years. Savanah’s mom, Ann Prandini Anderson, did the honors for me. Savanah will do great things with her life. We are extremely proud of her, and we wish her much success as she enters college.

As you have noticed, I have not been writing a monthly column. I have been notifying our members of anything important by email or phone calls. If you want to be contacted by email, please make sure I have your correct one. Send it to sonsofitalyfresno@ gmail.com . We are still not having meetings, due to covid19, I have cancelled the rest of the year. Our 98th Anniversary Dinner that should have been last week, cancelled. The Concert Series that we sponsor, cancelled. We have no income, so we are not making our regular donations, because we just can’t. The Scholarship Fundraiser Luca Fanucchi just did for us will be earmarked for our graduating Seniors that are coming up. I feel terrible that we may not be able to fund VCH donation in May 2021. Unless something changes for us, we are going to need every member to help come up with an idea to help.

This is an election year, not just for the country, but for all the Local Lodges, too. I have emailed the Covid19 election guidelines, if you have not received them, contact me or Rec. Secretary Steven Barra. I have signed up 3 new members during covid, I have 2 more that want to. Please ask, even though we aren’t having active meetings. We still can be a part of this. I hope you are all staying healthy in this pandemic and to everyone who is suffering because of the fires, we are keeping you in our prayers. This is indeed a hard time for us all. Remember to wear your mask, especially when it’s smokey outside. Please pray for our country, our leaders, and all of our citizens to treat each other with kindness and respect. Until next time, Ciao!