Message From Your State Second Vice President

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I want to start my final monthly Il Leone article as Vice President of Northern California with a Huge “Grazie a Tutti.” For forty-one issues, I’ve sat at this desk and tried to put down in words things that I’ve thought were important to my fellow Italians, and all the eighteen Lodges in Northern California as well as their activities at the Lodges located from Klamath Falls, OR, to San Francisco, CA and then to Reno & Sparks, NV. I have attended 100th Year Lodge Anniversaries, Crab Feeds, Festa Primavera events, Officer and Lodge member initiations and installations, Shrimp Feeds, Baseball games, Bocce Tournaments, a Carnival Cruise to Mexico, Paesano Days in Redding, and of course four Conventions. It has been four years that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

I have learned so much about our organization, our Bylaws, and how & why they are set up the way they are, and what they were established for. The great thing about them is that if we disagree about a law as times progress, we have the ability to meet once a year at Convention to modify a Bylaw by voting on a change. That brings me to an important fact. All Lodges must come to the Convention so they can vote, propose Bylaw changes and be a part and contribute towards the process. Not only that, but to come meet and enjoy new friends and members of our Order. It is time for change at the Convention. Officers and Committee Reports are important, but we need to get training for all the Lodges so that we all can be on the same page. A number of the Presidents and their Officers are not completely familiar with their duties. Training is so vitally important. There are so many things to discuss at the Convention. We can eliminate time spent on Committee Reports and Officer Reports by sending the reports out to the Delegates before the Convention, so everyone can go over them, and if there are questions, then those issues can be brought up at the Convention. That would save more time for other discussions or Training.

I don’t think the members of OSDIA realize what a miracle we had happen when we sold our Grand Lodge building in San Francisco built in 1959. There were so many great memories left there, like all the Bingo games on weekends in The Hall of Mirrors Room, Weddings, Conventions, and other activities. Some of our members even met their future spouses in that room. Oh, so many great Memories! But like everything else, life moves on, so because of the age of the building and the environment around the building, it was time to leave. We were so fortunate that we were able to find a buyer because it wasn’t a seller’s market at the time in San Francisco, and then on top of everything else, as we were going through Escrow, we had an electrical fire. However, God was on our side, and the buyer said that they would continue Escrow if we would lower the price a little. It would have taken us over a year to get Permits and other needed items from the city. So off we go to the Sacramento area, where after a year of looking at over forty locations, we located our new Grand Lodge at 9300 Madison Avenue in Orangevale, CA. Looking back at all the naysayers who didn’t want to move, I say I think it turned out great!

I’d like to give a shout out to the “Il Leone,” our State Newspaper has so improved with eliminating mistakes, improving information going out to the members, plus some outstanding news articles. Kudos to Anna Galbo Graeber for all the time and effort she has put into making it one of the best Italian Newspapers throughout the U.S.

Another item of importance is mentorship. We need officers to help other future officers in Lodges to take members and guide them on how to be Financial Secretary, Recording Secretary, and so on, if the members wish to be Officers at a Lodge. I personally think that everyone in a Lodge should want to help their Lodge to continue to be successful, and by being an Officer or Participating Member in some position at their Lodge they will help to do that. When I became Vice President at our Lodge, David Carboni was my mentor. He helped me with everything, from going to the Conventions and introducing me to State Officers & Delegates. He helped me with running a meeting and many other functions at our Lodge, so when it was time for me to step up, I was ready to perform my duties. I, in turn, paid it forward with our current President, Danny Marinelli. All members should want at some time to get involved and contribute, whether it means cooking, collecting tickets, calling BINGO, or being on a committee, so they feel a part of their Lodge.

Finally, I will end up where I started four years ago by saying JUST ASK! We need our membership to grow. Last count, we have less than 3,000 members. Our key to success is increasing membership. I know it’s a cliché, but if we all just ask one person to join the ‘Best Kept Secret in America (OSDIA)’, it would help tremendously. So again, thank you all so much for letting me serve as your State Vice President in the North, the Grand Lodge of California, The Sons and Daughters of Italy. Please, as I have said many times in my articles, call someone you haven’t talked to in a while, whether it’s a relative, friend, or even an ex-friend, and say hello. “I was just thinking about you and wondering how you were doing.” Looking forward to seeing all of you at Convention!

I also want to take this time to thank Londi Medrano for being such a great assistant in helping me write these articles. I couldn’t do it without her.

Love You All,

Louie Lodi