MESSAGE FROM THE STATE SECOND VICE PRESIDENT

Brothers and Sisters,

The 87th Sons and Daughters of Italy Convention was one to remember. On Wednesday, we started out with our Annual Bocce Tournament. Ten teams battled it out to be crowned champion and at the end the Napa Lodge won the honors with the team of Marisa and Allen Miller, Scott Williams, and Otto DeLeon as the champions. Excellent job everyone!

On Thursday morning, the 87th Convention opened with a 45-minute delay due to past State President,  John Costa, becoming stuck in the hotel elevator. After the Fire Department got there, with sirens blaring, we then had a beautiful presentation of the Flags. Our State President, Arlene Nunziati officially opened the Convention. Arlene then introduced our National President, Michael Polo. The roll call was taken, and the Grand Council members and the Committee Chairs gave their reports. Thursday night was the “Italian Luau” Dinner Dance party. Many kudos to Carol Esposito for her enthusiasm and fantastic job along with the C. Colombo Lodge Members.

On Friday, it was back to work with more committee reports. We also mixed in a little fun with playful jokes by John Tedesco and others. The best part of the Convention was the bantering going on back and forth between Dodgers and Giants fans as to who was better. It came down to Friday night’s game in San Francisco.  There were about twenty-five Convention members who had gone to the game. It all came down to the eleventh inning and the Giants hit a two-run homer to win 5 to 3.  Meanwhile, back at the hotel, the Delegates were treated to some great music from myself, Lee Sparks, Dee Dee Drene, Larry Capeloto and the star of the show, Carlo Solivan. Good times were had by all.

Saturday was the day of Donations where the Lodges pledged their donations to various charities and scholarships. I’m proud to say that The Sons and Daughters of Italy in California donated almost $40,000 dollars to their different charities and scholarships. What an outstanding, great Job, my brothers, and sisters! A big thank you also goes out to Phil Privitera for his very generous donation of $10,000 to our charities.

On a sad note, we had 57 Delegates out of 87 Delegates that came to the Convention.  Out of that number, 8 Lodges had no representation. All Lodges need to send Delegates to represent their Lodges so they can understand what’s happening with their Grand Lodge of California and to partake in an important vote that will affect our Order in the future. Next year the State Convention will be in the South. We hope we’ll have a bigger attendance to make it an even better Convention.

Ciao for now,
Louie Lodi