This website will carry the last two President's Messages. If you need any previous Messages, please contact us from the “Contact Us” section of this website.

December 14, 2007

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the Lord bless you and keep you and those close to you. This is a time of year for reflecting on the past, enjoying the present and looking with anticipation to the future. We should be grateful for all we have and be thankful for those who surround us with caring and love.

There are many things to report since my last newsletter. We held our annual spaghetti dinner fund raiser for the benefit of our scholarship fund on November 10. I would like to thank the local community for their attendance to the dinner. We served 30% more dinners than we did last year. This is a testament of the quality of the food and an increased publicity campaign. There were 52 volunteers serving over 300 people in three hours. We had lodge members, high school service hour volunteers and confirmation class volunteers working at the dinner. In addition to the volunteers and lodge members, many thanks to Rutter’s Dairy, Chic-Fil-A, Giant Foods, Mason-Dixon Restaurant, My Three Sons Restaurant, Naylor Vineyards, Sam’s Club, Saubel’s Market, Travel Concepts and Wal-Mart for their generous donations to our scholarship fundraising efforts. These supporters were generous with food items, and gift certificates. Please join me in thanking them for their continued support of the youth in our community.

The winner of the 50/50 raffle at the spaghetti dinner was Judith Hooper. When I called Judith to tell her she had won $185 in the drawing, she asked if she could donate it to our scholarship fund. Our Lodge would like to say, to Judith, thank you very much for your generosity. We have added this gift to the scholarship fund. In addition, Sylvia Seid won the raffle for the gift basket(s) this year. It was overflowing, so it took 2 baskets to carry everything.

We have had 6 more new members join our Lodge in the last month. I would like to welcome Anthony (Tony) Petrucci, Amanda Petrucci, Alex Petrucci, Anthony (Tony) Cirillo, Michele Cirillo and Joseph Cirillo. I have had long conversations with these families and I know they are going to be great additions to our Lodge. Welcome.

The Mason-Dixon Lodge #2669 scholarship program will kickoff the beginning of January. The applications will be available right after the holidays and also as a download off of our website. Eligibility requirements are included with the application. Also, the state scholarship forms are available. All state scholarships are $2,000 each. To be eligible for the state scholarship, the applicant, applicant’s parents or grandparents must be a member of the Order Sons of Italy in America for 2 years before the date of application. Please contact me for the state scholarship forms.

I would also like to announce that St. John the Baptist Catholic Church has a fundraiser in progress. If you have not heard, it is called the “21 Club”. Tickets are $20 each. I will have some at the monthly meetings. If you are interested in selling tickets or have any questions, please contact Kathy or Mary Jane in the church office at 235-2156.

Please note that Diane Alexander (work and personal reasons) and Andrea Colamarino (moving and graduate school) have submitted their resignations. They are still members of the Lodge but lack the time or the logistics to be able to perform their duties. Jeff Driftmyer will complete their terms for them and we will be looking for a new Financial Secretary.

Rose Driftmyer and I will be updating the website during the holidays and I am targeting completion by January 1, 2008. Most of the updates are minor but still need to be done. Please visit the site often, provide your comments to me and tell others about it. I think it is a great site and Rose has done a marvelous job in keeping the quality of our site very high.

The Lodge held our Christmas party on December 9th in Neumann Hall at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Cele Bodani and Deb Pyne did a great job in the setup and organization of the party. “Daystar”, the Christian vocal group entertained everyone with Christmas carols and had everyone joined in during the singing. There were door prizes and voluntary gift exchanges. We also followed our new tradition of conducting a new member initiation ceremony during the party. As a special follow-up to the party, all the extra food was portioned into individual meals, by our high school volunteers, and I delivered them to the “New Life for Children Home” in Glen Rock. There were 19 women and children there and all were very grateful for the food, thoughts and prayers. There were soups and a bowl of candy made special for the children of the home. I cannot explain the feelings I get when I deliver these items to the residents. This is the second time in a month I have visited the home. I also delivered all the pasta, sauce, salads and a cake to the home after the spaghetti dinner.

Sadly, we have lost two Lodge members recently. Sister Florine Simpson and Brother Chuck Stoecker were called to heaven. We are saddened by their passing, but are consoled by the fact that they are with God and our Lord, Jesus Christ. We will miss them. Additionally, let us pray for the families of Florine and Chuck, that they find God’s strength at this difficult time.

In conclusion, I would like to say that it is an honor to represent such a wonderful group of people. In this season of thanks and giving, I feel blessed by the opportunity given to me. I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season. I am looking forward to an even more exciting 2008 and meeting the goals we are setting for ourselves and the Lodge.

Fraternally,
Joe Colamarino, President
Mason-Dixon Lodge #2669
Order Sons of Italy in America

August 12, 2007

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful and relaxing summer. We have certainly had, what I would consider, a fantastic year for our Lodge. As I have completed my first year as President of this Lodge, I feel we have accomplished so much. We have developed a fantastic web site, phone number, fax number, email address, mail address, with an increase of membership by more than 50%, a publicity program, increased recognition in the community and so much more. And yet, as I look around we have so much more to do and more ideas from the brothers and sisters of the Lodge for the future including activities, fundraisers and programs.

I would also like to take this time to thank all of my brothers and sisters for allowing me to represent them as the President of this Lodge. I am certainly very lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful people. I was very proud to announce the activities of our Lodge at the Pennsylvania State Convention in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago.

We held our elections this spring and I would like to welcome all the new officers. All the new officers and their titles are listed on the left side of the home page. I am hoping for the development of new programs and the support of new officers to continue this effort.

I will be conducting an officers meeting during the summer to develop a business plan to help focus our efforts for the balance of 2007 and all of 2008. I am hoping that we are able to continue to increase our membership, develop a bigger activities program and the beginning of a procedures manual.

I would like to welcome two more new members to our Lodge. Dawn Christine Villani and Mark “Villani” Hutchison have joined our Lodge and their applications are currently being processed at the Grand Lodge headquarters in Philadelphia. Both Dawn and Mark live in Maryland and Mark was speaking Italian at the last meeting. (Maybe we have found our own in-house Italian teacher.) Welcome to Dawn and Mark and we look forward to getting to known both of you much better.

Our Lodge awarded a $500 scholarship to Samantha Rose for her continued education. She will be attending Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in Lancaster, PA in the fall. All of us at Lodge 2669 wish her the best of luck and know that our prayers are with her as she enters the next phase of her life. Good luck, Sam. I have also asked Samantha to design a shirt specific to our Lodge. I am certainly looking forward to Sam’s ideas.

I was pleased to be able to present a check for over $1,000 to the Alzheimers Association at the Order Sons of Italy in America, Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania State Convention. It was the fourth largest amount presented at the convention. In addition, I am pleased to say we also donated to the Cooley’s Anemia fund. There was a speaker there who had Cooley’s Anemia and she brought a tear to the eye of everyone as she described her life with the disease. I was very proud to donate to that cause after such a memorable speech.

Our annual spaghetti dinner will be held on November 10, 2007 in the Parish Center.

The September meeting will be held in the meeting room up at the new church. Neumann Hall is reserved for the evening by Father Capitani for a meeting where he needs the larger hall.

Please watch the mail for a package from me. In it, I will include a list of officers, an updated schedule, membership listing, a copy of this letter and a survey. The survey is to find out what each of you are thinking and I am especially looking for your opinions and concerns. Please return the survey to me at my home address on the officer’s list or to the Mason-Dixon Lodge #2669 post office mail box.

Remember, the biggest reason most people don’t join the Order Sons of Italy in America is because they have never been asked.

Let’s show others our pride in our heritage.
Let’s teach our young people the meaning of family.
Let’s guide others by our actions and deeds.
Let’s assist those less fortunate through our support.
Let’s continue to grow this Lodge to maintain our efforts.

I am looking forward to a fun and exciting balance of 2007 and 2008, as we continue to look to the future and working towards our goals as a group.

Fraternally,
Joe Colamarino, President
Mason-Dixon Lodge #2669
Order Sons of Italy in America