Message From the State President

The smoke seems to have cleared for most of us. I hope your skies are clear. Since I last wrote you, there have been several Zoom calls with National. All were interesting but one was very interesting. All the National Committee Chairs were on this Zoom. Our National President Robert Bianchi told us what he expected in the way of action and reporting. He also told us to feel free to reach out to other committee chairs for assistance with activities.

I was impressed with this idea of sharing assistance with each other. We certainly can do this on a Grand Lodge or Local Lodge level. If our committee has a project they are working on and find themselves in need of help from a technology or membership committee, they should feel free to reach out. The best chance we have for continued success is to work together on projects.

I would like to speak about inquiries on policies, procedures, and/or by laws. Please reach out to our Orator, Manny Finazzo. He is very learned in all the above and will raise issues if needed but he should be your first point of contact. If you could also copy me so I can keep track of what is happening, I would appreciate it.

We had a very productive Grand Council meeting this weekend. I must admit to being a little nervous at the beginning but the amazing group of people you have elected to our Council made it easy to take care of business.

We celebrated our newest Past President, Lynn Lawrence-Murphy. Our Vice-President of the North, Louie Lodi, entertained us with beautiful music and fun skits within the music.

I want all to know how much I respect our Past Presidents and welcome their opinions. I consider them one of my greatest assets in doing a good job as President.

We had our second Lodge Presidents’ call and I want to thank all that joined us. For those that were not on, we learned about what was happening in the Lodges and we had some discussion on COVID procedures. I think the most important thing is to follow your county’s directives.

Presidents, mark your calendars for the fourth Sunday of October at 7 PM, that will be the 24th of October for our next Zoom meeting. More information to follow via email.

So many of our Lodges have begun to open and I want to remind them to reach out to me when they are initiating new members so I can come to a meeting. I feel the best way to meet members is to attend Lodge meetings. As I have said before, I love the events, but the members are at the meetings.

Have a safe and fun filled Columbus Day during our Italian Heritage month of October. Ken and I will be attending the Italian Festival in Reno and running a sauce booth there on October 9th. We will be attending the Western Foundation Golf Tournament in Chico on October 11th and hope to see many of you at both events. On October 15th and 16th, I will be on a Zoom Convention with our National delegation. I look forward to participating as your Grand Lodge President. Ken and I have been invited to initiate new members at our Northern Salano Lodge on the 21st of October.

I wanted to wish you all good luck in our Grand Lodge Italian Heritage/Columbus drawing with a winner every day. This raffle will help in the running of the Grand Lodge. Thank you to all who have participated.

We are looking to a busy, but fun filled month. Remember to always make it fun and it will never be a job.

Till next month
Fraternally
Barb