WELCOME

The brothers and sisters of the Order Sons of Italy in America, Mason-Dixon Lodge #2669 welcome you to our website. Through this website, we would like to share who we are and what we do. We want to share our Italian heritage, support our community, and continue to grow our membership. We are much more than a social club and the pages to follow will detail our activities. Please take some time to get to know us better, and if you are of Italian descent, we hope you will be inclined to join our Lodge.

We are a non-profit organization, devoted to maintaining our Italian heritage and serving our community and country. We are bound by the three ideals upon which the Order Sons of Italy in America was founded. These ideals are Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. This is what guides us in our activities and beliefs.

Please join us in our efforts to support those charities and scholarship programs which can greatly enhance the lives of others.

HISTORY

The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) is the oldest and largest organization of Americans of Italian heritage in the North American Continent. Founded in New York City by Dr. Vincent Sellaro in 1905, the organization now represents 23 million men and women of Italian descent.

Established in 1905 as a mutual aid society for the early Italian immigrants, today OSIA has more than 600,000 members and supporters and a network of more than 700 chapters coast to coast, making it the leading service and advocacy organization for the nation's estimated 26 million people of Italian descent.

Its missions include encouraging the study of Italian language and culture in American schools and universities; preserving Italian American traditions, culture, history and heritage; and promoting closer cultural relations between the United States and Italy.

The Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF) is a private, philanthropic institution, established by OSIA in 1959. To date, the SIF has given more than $93 million to scholarships, medical research, cultural preservation, disaster relief, and other projects.

The Commission for Social Justice (CSJ) is the anti-defamation arm of OSIA. The CSJ is committed to fighting racism, prejudice, and the stereotyping of all races, religions and cultures.

OSIA's national headquarters is in Washington, D.C., near Capitol Hill and the various congressional office buildings.

On April 27, 1913, the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge was the third State Lodge to be Chartered by OSIA. Over 470 local lodges and 50 junior lodges were eventually organized, making Pennsylvania the largest State Lodge.

The Mason-Dixon Lodge #2669 was formed in 1993 by a group of Italian Americans from South Central Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland areas. It is affiliated with the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

PURPOSE

The basic goal, as conceived by its founders, is to enroll Americans of Italian descent under one banner so that the rich cultural heritage of Italy could be preserved and shared with all Americans. It is also the purpose of OSIA to promote the image of Italian Americans within the framework of American society through its involvement in community, charitable, educational, cultural, patriotic, social, youth and civic activities.