Cristoforo Colombo Lodge #1534

Happy New Year! We at Cristoforo Colombo Lodge are hoping for a better 2022.

Our Lodge was not very active last year. Our annual August picnic had to be cancelled because of horrible smoke from the terrible California fires. We were all so looking forward to getting together socially again. It was a disappointment. However, we won’t look back and this August we will have a wonderful picnic. We have kept all the Lodges affected by the fires in our thoughts too.

Our annual Festa Primavera at the Elks Club was cancelled because of Covid. This is our big fundraiser so we were concerned. Our Lodge decided to do a Non-Festa Primavera Fundraiser. We were “filling the boot” with contributions, big and small, to make our goal of $8000. So far we have received $6,560. We are proud of our members for helping us through this past difficult year. Again, we will look forward to our Festa Primavera this year at the Elk’s. SAVE THE DATE- April 30, 2022.

In October many of us attended the Great Italian Festival at the El Dorado Casino in Reno. Our Lodge had a sauce booth as did Past President Joe Eidem and the Bonaldi/Ricci family. It was a beautiful Saturday, great weather, fun music and crowds of people were in attendance.

In December we enjoyed our big Christmas dinner party and Santa came for the kids. They all received gifts from Santa and Santa received a check from us for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Many attended this event and we had a great time. Our member, Sam Olson, was our raffle master shouting out the raffle numbers while the children delivered the prizes to the winners.

We have added two new charities to our giving in 2021. We gave to Bees 4 Vets and Awaken. Representatives from both of these organizations spoke to us about their organizations. Bees 4 Vets help our Vets who are suffering from PTSD or other related issues. Awaken is an organization working with human trafficking. Our State is high on the list for human trafficking. We were able to present these two new charities with a substantial check.

When you meet someone who acts in a foolish way or does something particularly silly you can turn to your friend and say “la mamma dei cretini è sempre incinta”.

The English equivalent would be “There’s one born every minute” or “there’s a sucker born every minute”.

Thank you for reading about our Lodge. We hope you are all back to your regular activities and functions and are doing well. 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.