FROM THE PRESIDENT:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I write this letter to our members and readers as we, your elected Delegates, prepare for the upcoming New York State Sons of Italy Convention in Albany, New York. I am particularly proud to represent our Lodge as President and to have Brother Joe Berta sit at the front dais as our District State Trustee. In addition to the many years of experience at Conventions by our Delegates Susan Berta, and Joe and Anne Vazzana, having my daughter Sister Jennifer attend as a dedicated member of our Lodge and representing the next generation makes me very proud.. As you know our Lodge chose three very worthwhile charities for our annual donations - Cooley's Anemia, Gift of Sight, and Coaches for Cancer Research.  I indicated to the membership that individuals could also contribute to their own charity of choice. We will give our members an overview of the Convention happenings at our next membership meeting June 11th and in the next newsletter.

Besides the Convention, June brings our Lodge into its "busy" season. As we heard at the last meeting, Brother Tony Palucci and his committee are preparing for our annual summer picnic on August 8, 2009 being held at our home in Brighton and Sister Jennifer is getting her committee together to work on the Festa Italiana held at the IACC in July. Sister Eunice with Sister Susan's help has made the arrangements for October's Columbus Day Dinner Dance at which we will honor Dr. Ralph Pennino and INTERVOL the wonderful organization he founded with the Humanitarian Award, retiring Gates Town Supervisor Ralph Esposito for Lifetime Achievement Award, and our Family of the Year will be the Schiano Family. Sister Susan Berta has gotten the Ad Book, our major fundraiser, off to a great start as she has so capably in the past (I hear we already have several ads in) and with other members' help I'm sure we will surpass our previous income from this event. Sister Jen Gugino and her committee are putting together November's Turkey Raffle Dinner at St Cecelia's and the Christmas dinner at the Eagle’s Club is being arranged by the Vazzanas and Joe DiPasquale.

Let us not forget the Columbus Day Parade in October organized by Brother Tony Palucci and Sister Jen Rube' who is our rep to the Parade Committee that Brother Lou DeCarolis Chairs. As you can see we have many proven events on the Agenda for 2009, but as I have said in the past I will support any member who has an idea for an event if they are willing to "run with it".

We know that there is a trip to a Red Wings game being planned and several people have expressed an interest in bringing back the Italian Mass, a Children's event, etc. I encourage our members to let the various people listed above as "Chairs" of the committees know in writing of your interest in participating in organizing any of the events. This will allow the "Chair" to notify you when they are meeting and how you can help. Most of all I encourage all our members to attend events, bring family and friends and show your support for our Lodge.

I wish to express my gratitude to Sisters Nancy and Jennifer for their "genealogy" efforts at our April meeting and to Brother Joe Berta and the Scholarship Committee  for their diligent task in reviewing the candidates and choosing very worthy recipients.

In closing, we are one of many Italian American Organizations in this Community. When I first became President I mentioned that I would encourage our members to not only participate in other group events to help bring our Italian American Community closer together but also to "reach out" to those who currently do not belong to any of the community's Italian American clubs and to make our Sons of Italy Lodge the Organization of Choice. This not only requires a little effort but a real positive attitude when talking to others about our Lodge and its members.

                                                                                                  Fraternally yours,

                                                                                                                Joe Rubé

NEW CONTACT INFORMATION – Please update your records!

The new address for lodge mail is: OSIA Vincent Lombardi Lodge #2270

                                                        c/o President Joseph A. Rubé, Jr. MD

                                                        71 Cohasset Drive

                                                        Rochester NY 14618   

                                                        Phone: 585-461-1181