MESSAGE FROM YOUR STATE PRESIDENT

Greetings! So much has gone on since my first message which followed our State Convention. The National Convention in Orlando, Florida was well attended as I was joined by our National Delegates and California National Officers. We accomplished a lot in a week, even under the hot and humid conditions, as we maintained full work days beginning that Wednesday morning. You will be hearing from all of the State Delegates and National Officers from California in the upcoming issues of the Il Leone of the current events. The goal is to share with all of you the actions and accomplishments of all those involved.   

On behalf of the Grand Lodge of California I want to congratulate Lynn Lawrence Murphy on winning the Sellaro Award.

After many years on the national bylaw committee, brother Al Girolami has retired. Al, thank you for your dedication and hard work during your many years serving on this committee.

In honor of our new National President Tom Lupo, New York hosted a dinner for all attendees. As part of this celebration, each Grand Lodge provides a gift to each of the delegates and California provided the elegant 100th anniversary champagne flutes we offered at our lodge’s anniversary. I would be remiss if I did not thank our Immediate Past President Arlene Nunziati for ordering the extra champagne flutes. In addition, she purchased all the gifts we gave to the award winners for the different luncheons. Thank you, Arlene, for thinking ahead on my behalf!

We have also been busy at the Grand Lodge building over the last few months. To be fiscally responsible, we were able to put a deal together to replace four of our air conditioning units and the roof. In anticipation of needing to replace all units, we were able to negotiate a deal that saved us almost the equivalent of one unit! We were also able to replace the roof and install a gate that surrounds our trash containers which has helped prevent outsiders from filling our dumpsters.    

Many thanks to our Grand Lodge Office Manager Alison for designing a beautiful ad for the awards book honoring Lynn Lawrence and our other award members at National. It’s amazing what Alison can create with limited time…thank you!

The September Grand Council meeting will be in San Francisco so please stop by if you’re in the area as meetings are open to all members.   

We are already hard at work on next year’s convention and look forward to sharing updates over the next few months so please stay tuned.