Message From the 2nd Vice President

 Brothers and Sisters,

I first would like to thank everyone who worked on the 86th Grand Lodge Convention Committee, Lynn Lawrence Murphy, Lori and Mark Rossi and all the members from the Reno Colombo Lodge. I may have left out somebody so I apologize if I did.

The Convention was packed with many activities from opening ceremony, where Maria Fazzio Pignati sang both our National Anthem and our Italian National Anthem to the swearing in of our New Grand Lodge President Arlene Nunziati. On Wednesday, we started out with the Bocce Tournament and then Thursday night we had our Western Night Theme Dinner. I never saw so many Italian Cowgirls and Cowboys in my life. The Vice President from National, Tony “Bisceglia” Anderson and his wonderful wife Linda, State President of the Grand Lodge of The Northwest, joined us for the entire Convention. Both are just good down to earth people who really care about everyone in OSDIA. A great moment was when we surprised Mike Carroll and his wife Karen with the Janet Capello Award for outstanding service to the Order. The highlight was our Scholarship Awards Dinner on Saturday night where over $15,000 was handed out in Scholarships.

I had a lot of members ask me about the Grand Lodge Building and if we have located a new location. Dan Marinelli, our Real Estate Agent, and President of the Sacramento Lodge has been searching for the last six-month to find a new building that can fit our criteria. Some buildings are too old, and some too expensive or too small. He is continuing to check all the new listings every week and I know soon he will find that gem out there to call our New Grand Lodge of California. 

Next year the Convention is set to be in the Central Area. I urge all of you to try to come to the Convention if it is near to you, then you can see for yourself just what goes on at the Convention. 

In my travels this year I am looking forward to meeting more of you. Please, if you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to call me. If I do not have an answer, then I will find someone that does. Just call me at 916-996-5634.

Ciao for now