Cristoforo Colombo Lodge #1534

Happy Summer! Our Lodge hopes you are getting together with your Lodges, fundraising, initiating new members, and socializing again. It’s been really wonderful seeing our members again and welcoming new ones. Our dinner meetings at the Elks Club in Reno have been a big success. So much more parking, room, and an incredible kitchen for our cooks.

Our “Non Festa Fundraiser” or also called “Fill the Boot” ended in January of 2021, but we continued it through May of this year. As we were not able to have our big Festa in 2020 or 2021, which is our big fundraiser, we started the Non Festa Fundraiser. As of the end of May, we collected $7,674. Our goal was $8000, so we are so pleased how everyone came forward and gave with their hearts so we could continue our lodge goals of community giving.

In January we initiated new members: Nick Simone, Mary Barton, Ron Bausone, and John Nuessle. Happy to welcome them to our Lodge.

In February our member, Salene Pecetti, shared an excellent presentation about her family business, Reno Vulcanizing and how it was started by her Italian family. They are celebrating 100 years in business.

In March we heard from another Italian member, Patty Cafferatta. She has written several books about her family and Old Reno. Her presentation was amazing and many people purchased her books.

At our April meeting, Michael Lella, the son of Pina Lella, spoke and presented about his book, Beneath a Scarlet Sky. It is a #1 seller on Amazon and is about World War II in Italy. We learned so much and heard the amazing and heroic story about his Father.

April 30 was our big awaited Festa Primavera. It was held at the Elks again and was quickly sold out. Antonio Ricci and his crew, prepared the food and it was delicious. We had incredible silent auction items and many raffle prizes. We made a record amount of money from this Festa and can now pass it on to our scholarship winners and others to whom we donate. Those involved worked so very hard to make the Festa a success and we are so thankful to them all.

For our May meeting we had a “Show and Tell” presentation. Many of our members brought items and pictures and shared information about their Italian families. It was a really wonderful evening.

In June we had our scholarship winners attend our dinner and talk a little about themselves. We presented a $3000 scholarship to Elyse Reilly. She graduated from Galena High School and will attend Utah State University. Raquella Capri Menesini-Baden received a $2500 scholarship. She graduated from Reno High School and will attend Baldwin Wallace College in Ohio. They came to dinner with their families and we enjoyed hearing from them. We also gave a vocational scholarship in the amount of $500 to Justin Gronek who is finishing his mechanical degree at Truckee Meadows Community College.

We are very privileged to have State President Barbara Wisniewski as our Immediate Past President of our Lodge. Barbara attends almost all our meetings and supports our events with style. Ken is also at her side and pitches in to help. Thank you for being a loyal member.

We are planning our annual picnic on August 21st which is always a fun event outside. Last year we had to cancel due to extreme smoke in our skies so we are looking forward to some fun this year. If you are ever in the area, please feel free to visit. We have great meals!!

Thank you for reading about our Lodge. Pronti? Via! (ready? Let’s go!) Until next time…..

Please visit our Face book page at Reno Sons of Italy and our website for more information: www.renosonsofitaly.org. Learn more about our Lodge, your Italian heritage and upcoming events.