Message from the State President

The summer has come and gone with the blink of an eye! My Aces are doing great, and I hope at this printing they will be the PCL Champions!

Some good things have occurred since my last article. The Grand Council agreed to sign a contract with a highly reputable and recommended Real Estate Broker in San Francisco, Bruno Baldini. The official date for the listing will be August 27th. We are excited to begin this new era in our Grand Lodge history.

I attended the Supreme Summer Plenary session in Chicago. This was our first in person meeting since the pandemic and we were all happy to be together again. There was talk about Members at Large and where we, as Grand Lodges stand with this program. We have formed a committee to review incorporating the Grand Lodges into the program. At this time, we get credit for these members in our total membership for representation but do not get any financial credit.

I have heard a few of our members saying that we have not done anything to help with the Columbus issue, the way people are slandering the founder of our Nation. I guess they have not been following the Commission for Social Justice (CSJ) and all they are doing. We are working hard to fight the allegations made by Howard Zinn that have now been put into the history books in our schools. For those that don’t know, Howard Zinn wrote a history of the United States that started with its discovery, stating that Columbus was responsible for the slavery and genocide of the Natives where he landed in the Caribbean. To rewrite history books because of one man is an affront to us all.

I receive many emails from our CSJ Committee Chair, Tony Ricevuto about the actions that the National CSJ are taking. Pauline Richmond, our First Vice-President, passes them on to our Lodge Presidents. I expect that they are forwarding them to our members. If you have not been, please do so in the future in order to keep our members informed.

The plaque to be set in New Orleans to commemorate the thirteen Italian immigrants that were lynched there, is ready and plans are being made to put it on display in the area where the lynching took place.
I hope you have had the opportunity to look at the resource page on our National website, osia.org or osdia.org will get you there. There are so many interesting posts and links. Please take a moment to look.
It was announced that two of our Grand Lodges are reaching one hundred years in 2023, Virginia and Delaware. We are excited to help them celebrate.

I have some beautiful bookmarks with information on Italian American women that was passed out by the Women’s Action Committee (WAC). This committee was formed by our National President, Bob Bianchi to bring to the forefront information on our Italian and Italian American women’s contributions to our nation and the world. Please reach out to me and let me know how many you would like. There is not charge.

Thank you all for your confidence in me and our Council. We will continue to do what we feel is best for our Grand Lodge and the Order.

Till next month
Fraternally
Barbara