| Your "One Stop Italian America" |
 |  |  |  |  |
Giuseppe Verdi Lodge #2818
Order Sons of Italy in America
 |  |  |
| NEWSLETTER SONS OF ITALY GIUSEPPE VERDI LODGE #2818 BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE www.giuseppeverdilodge.com 1ST QUARTER 2008 |
President..................Dan Solomon
Vice President -----Joe LoCasto
Treasurer ------------Pat Solomon
Secretary ------------
Trustee/Herald -----George Gould
Trustee---------------Tom Mazzone
Vice President -----Joe LoCasto
Treasurer ------------Pat Solomon
Secretary ------------
Trustee/Herald -----George Gould
Trustee---------------Tom Mazzone
Saluti a tutto,
This is our first newsletter for 2008. Unfortunately, the first three months of this New Year have been
quite dismal. The stock market is down, the housing market is bad, the toll from the sub-prime mortgage
market is unbelievable and the war in Iraq has racked up over 4000 casualties with no end in sight. On
top of that, gas prices are approaching $4.00 a gallon and we are now hearing talk that we are heading
into a recession. To quote from the old poem "Casey at the Bat", there is no joy in Mudville. Ah, but
despite this gloom there are a couple of rays of sunshine. The frequent rains we have been
experiencing have brought our water levels up to normal and hopefully, we may not have a recurrence
of the drought that devastated us last year.
A bright ray shone on our Lodge on the evening of March 29th. This was the Lodge's first attempt, and it
was truly a successful attempt, at putting on a commercial venture -- offering a Pasta Dinner to the
public. To this writer, personally, the undertaking of an effort of this magnitude by a fledgling
organization in a short time frame was mind boggling. The dinner was held at St. Philip’s Church whose
facilities have been made available to us from the very inception of our Lodge. It goes without saying
how appreciative we are to Father Kirk and Kim Lysinger. The dinner was a complete success. The meal
consisted of baked penne pasta with a choice of meat sauce, marinara sauce or butter sauce; mixed
green salad, garlic bread and dessert. The dessert was the piece de resistance ---Straccatella gelato and
Classic Limon gelato. Beverages included coffee, lemonade and water. The cost of this repast was $8 for
adults and $6 for school age children. Over 200 people attended the dinner. After deducting our
expenses and making our charitable contributions the Lodge was able to add $400 to its coffers.
Needless to say, an accomplishment of this magnitude required a lot of assistance. KUDOS must be
given to the following Lodge members whose tireless efforts and devotion made this event a total
success: Nick Allegro, Mary Fisher, Rosia Bell, Steve & Connie Hovis, Stephanie Johnson, Fred &
Marilyn Besasie, Jeannie Jones, Dennis Dalton, Sam & Christie Callea, Clorinda King, Linda Prater, Tom
& Patti Caprara, Joe & Sue LoCasto, Doug & Teresa Cavener, Tom & Carla Mazzone, Bob Cirulli, Maggie
Mendola, Renee Czeck, Tony & Sue Pellini, Pat & Bruce Dawson, Vince & Enza Sanfilippo, Josie
Dimengo, Dan & Pat Solomon, Bill & Georgia Di Donato and Joe Tiratto.
A special thanks to those who graciously donated to our Pasta Dinner: Steve and Connie Hovis, owners
of Nucci’s Gelato provided the delicious gelato for dessert. Mary Steverson of Rebel Hill Florist provided
the beautiful roses for the tables. The bread was donated by Costco and the ice was donated by Sonic
and Publix.
Additionally, we had a nice social gathering in February at Antonio’s Restaurant in Bellevue. About 35 of
us gathered for an evening of good food and fellowship.
In March our Lodge provided a local family with Easter. Thanks to Josie Dimengo who so willingly gave
of her time and talents, the family was given a gift certificate for groceries and Easter baskets for each of
their five children. This was gratifying and rewarding to all involved.
At our last meeting something new was attempted and proved to be successful. Tables were arranged
according to groupings of alphabet letters which put together individuals who never got to meet each
other. Dan's idea of having people get up to give a short talk about themselves is also a way for the
members to get to know each other outside of the food line.
Our Activities Director, Tom Mazzone, is developing a monthly calendar of activities which should be
interesting to the members. Thanks to Teresa Cavener, our Care and Concern Person, for reporting that
all of our members who have been under the weather are up and about. With this I will close and wish
everyone a Happy and Healthy Spring.
CIAO!