Cristoforo Colombo Lodge #1534

Cristoforo Columbo Lodge #1534 in Reno, Nevada, would like to share some information about what has happened at our Lodge these past few months.

The Great Italian Festival at the El Dorado Hotel and Casino in October was another great day for us.  The Sons and Daughters of Italy had their booth manned mainly by Barbara and Ken Wisniewski. She had help from other Lodge members throughout the day.  The Bonaldi/Ricci booth was manned by most of the family members.  It was a beautiful day and oh so many people attended this two-day event many great sauces to taste! At our usual October dinner meeting, we played Bingo instead of having a meeting.  Our President, Dawn Romero, submitted a consent agenda instead of having a formal meeting. Bingo was a great success, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  More Bingo nights are planned.

November was our community giving month.  We gave to three charities: $1,000 to the Savitt Medical Library at the University of Nevada, $500 to Step 2, and $500 to Horsemanship 4 Heros.  Representatives of these charities were present, enjoyed a great meal and checks were presented to them.

December, as always, was our Christmas Party.  Santa came and gave presents to the little and big children in attendance.  Our Santa is from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation which is a charity for children’s cancer.  A check for $500 was presented to Santa for this charity before he left.  We had a very fun raffle as everyone brings a gift and raffle tickets are purchased, many winners were happy to get their prize.

Our January dinner meeting was the initiation of 7 of our new members: Alfred Antonini, Louisa Craviotto, Cathy Fawcett, Jeff Heyer, Laura Pinto, James Madero, and Tamera Obenaur.  Five were in attendance for their initiation. Our Past State President was the initiating officer along with State Deputy Monica Domini acting as Herold. We are so lucky to have such a great team and thankful for their assistance.

February is another Bingo night.  We are looking forward to more fun and excited winners.

Our member, Margaret Spano, started a Lunch Social each month on the second Friday of each month.  Several members get together for lunch just to socialize at different restaurants.  It has been a success, and we thank Margaret for organizing this event and having our members be able to get to know each other outside of the meeting.

We gained 21 new members last year.  Three of them were transfers from other OSDIA Lodges so we are happy to say we are growing and making a mark on the Reno community.

We are preparing for our big Festa Primavera on May 4, 2024.  It’s our big fundraiser for the year.  Over 300 people attend this dinner, raffle, and silent auction.  We make a lot of money, and our members work very, very hard to make this night a big success so we can continue our charity giving and scholarship presentations. We would love to see members from the Grand Lodge attend. If you are interested in coming please contact Pam Ricci, Pam@riccihomes.com for ticket information and check out our Face Book page for the details.

Antonio Ricci and his helpers continue to provide us with wonderful meals for our dinner meetings. We are blessed to have him and his team cook for us.

Thank you for reading about our Lodge.   We all love fare una spaghettata (to eat spaghetti).

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.