Message From the State President

This past month has been a whirlwind of activity. Ken and I were in Chico with the Vincenzo Bellini Lodge for the Western Foundation’s Golf Outing. I declined to participate in the Frozen Meatball contest. I just figured it would be better to go out a winner than to miss and lose! As you all know, I don’t golf so it would have been a definite miss! Instead I became the Tequila girl and was driven around by President, Tony George, to visit each group of golfers. I had never ridden in a golf cart to it was a great experience. Unfortunately, Tony had never driven a golf cart so there were some precarious moments! Thanks for the fun Tony!

I have not yet received a report of how much was raised but I believe the work on the raffle and auction items brought the receipts up. There were a lot of big ticket items donated.

I have been looking for an excuse to visit the coast and this trip gave it to me. If you haven’t been to Monterey Bay, you are surely missing out. The Aquarium is an amazing place and the Wharfs are so much fun with seafood everywhere. As most of you know I am a New Jersey transplant to Reno, Nevada. The shore was always less than an hour away in Jersey. In Reno there is no ocean. Tahoe is wonderful but so different. The Bay made me feel like a kid on the Jersey shore again!

From there we went to Clovis for our Grand Council meeting. I was able to share that we are under contract with a buyer for the Grand Lodge building in San Francisco. We are still in the escrow stage so this is not written in stone. By the time you read this we will know for sure. Unfortunately, during the last week, we had a small electrical fire in the catering area. The potential buyers have seen the damage as has the insurance adjuster. As of this writing I have no further information.

We approved Dee Dee Drene as our Grand Lodge Membership Chair. She will work our Local Lodges to find ways to attract new members.

We have an additional Trustee seat approved by the Western Foundation Council for Marlene Romanazzi. She will make a great addition to the Council. Donations were approved to our National Charities. Our Scholarship applications have been cleaned up and approved.

The Royal Pageant Contest does not seem to be able to get off the ground. We only have 2 entries and only 2 weeks to go till the deadline. We are looking into a raffle to be held in its place for the benefit of the Local Lodges and the Grand Lodge. Further information to follow.

The Golf Tournament in Palm Springs sponsored by the Dolly Sinatra Lodge will be held on November 14th. This is another fund raiser for the Western Foundation and I hope that many of our members and officers will support this fund raiser.

We had an amazing time with the Mother Lodge, Colombo-Stella celebrating their 100th Anniversary. Olivia Dellido and Steve Barra along with the Lodge members. So much memorabilia to see. The event was held at the Fresno Fair Grounds. The food was delicious and the entertainment was wonderful. Singing and dancing the Tarantella brought back so many memories of my family together at events back East. There is a museum that holds amazing history of Fresno with so many Italians and Italian Americans highlighted in one area dedicated to them. Thank you Olivia for all the time and energy you put into this museum. She worked with the curators to “get it right”, and “get it right” she did! The electronic touch screens can get you anywhere you would like to go in the history of Italians and Italian Americans in Fresno.

The next stop on this whirlwind tour of me and Ken took us to Sonoma. We are staying at a lovely bed and breakfast. I’ve never stayed at a bed and breakfast so this was a first and very nice experience. They gave me a desk and quiet spot to complete this article.

Tomorrow night we will visit The Valley of the Moon Lodge to initiate new members. I am so looking forward to going, as you all know that is my favorite thing to do. Thank you to President, Linda Shockey and the members of the Valley of the Moon Lodge for what I am sure will be a wonderful time with good food and good friends.

I must say, at this time I will be happy to get back home. This was a busy trip.