Cristoforo Colombo Lodge #1534 Reno, NV

Once again it’s been a while since we published an article in the Il Leone. Our last meeting was in February. We so miss our meetings and miss seeing our members. It has been difficult to say the least wondering how everyone is and not being able to socialize with them. We are sure you all are having the same issues with your lodges. We have continued to publish our monthly newsletter so our members can keep in touch, feel somewhat connected, and know what is going on in the lodge. We also have wonderful people who are calling members to keep in touch and check on them.

January was our “Get Healthy” meeting where we learned about our brain and pain from Dr. Pam Netuschil. She also talked about and showed us the Egoscue Method for staying whole body healthy. It was an interesting and informative presentation. One of our youth, Ella Ricci, spoke about the history of “knuckles” aka gnocchi. The rest of the youth presented other Italian themed foods. We are lucky to have so many children at our meetings. They are learning about their heritage and some great recipes!!

In February, our member, Saline Pechetti, presented Savoys in Torino, Italy. The Savoy family controlled Italy until the 1940’s. Salene visited the museums in Torino which have been beautifully restored. She brought guests which were family members of her Italian language class. We are so fortunate to have Salene. Her presentations are always so interesting and fun.

In June we would have presented out $3000 scholarship to Allyson Barajas. She is Italian on her Mother’s side; her grandfather came to Ellis Island from Bari and her grandmother from Sicily. She graduated from Reno High and was thrilled to receive her scholarship. We were able to set up a special lunch at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, La Cucina, and eat outside with a few of our members. Ally’s mom, Elizabeth, was able to join us as well so we heard some stories of them growing up Italian! Ally is on her way to Washington State University to study Nursing and eventually become a Physician’s assistant, with her drive and determination I am sure she will succeed. We are so happy some of us got to meet this lovely young lady during these strange times. I hope you will get to meet her too at Convention in 2021.

Our meetings for the rest of the year have been cancelled. We are hoping to have a social distancing Bocce picnic of some kind before summer is over and we are still holding out hope that we might be able to have our annual Christmas Party. We have missed so this much year. Every event has been cancelled and so many are losing their businesses and jobs. We pray and hope this virus is contained soon and we can go back to being together.

Thank you for reading about our Lodge. Don’t forgot riduzione dei contatti (social distancing) and usura mascherine (wear your mask).

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.