ORDER SONS OF ITALY IN AMERICA – Mercer County Lodge 2799

General Meeting Minutes
April 11, 201

Opening: The General Meeting of the OSIA Mercer County Lodge was called to order at 7:07 PM on 4/11/11 at the Hamilton Library. All stood, faced the flag and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Present: Al (Umberto) Parrotta, Maria Ferris – Recording Secretary, Cynthia Genovese – Treasurer, Janet Parrotta – Trustee, Donna-Maria Ratico – Trustee, John Ratico – Trustee

Steve Csogi was in attendance.

A.     Minutes

The minutes from the 10/25/10, 11/8/10, 12/5/10 and 2/16/11 General Meetings were made available.

B.     New Business

·        Marc resigned from the Board. Marc sent an email to the Board members earlier in the day. His post will remain open for now.

·        Donna-Maria volunteered to chair the membership committee.

C.     Open Business

·        In spite of the membership difficulties, the events held this year had a respectable showing. The movie event held on 3/20/11 was a successful event. These events were as follows: a table at the Festival for 3 days, trip to the winery, Installation of Officers, Christmas party and movie. A website was also established. The wine tasting event will probably be held earlier in the fall this year.

·        It was suggested we join more with the Dorothea House. The only thing we need is proof of insurance. Al will look into the state of our insurance coverage. There was a payment made to Franklin Mutual Insurance on 6/3/10.

·        Due to lack of interest, there was no La Befana. There will also be no Easter egg hunt.

·        Cindy and Donna-Maria initiated the “call campaign” and contacted those on the membership list. Al is in the process of connecting with someone who could assist in establishing an auto-dialer to contact members. It was suggested that all modes of communication should be used to contact members such as mail, phone calls, email, flyers, cable listing. Prospective members should also be contacted. It took a while for the lodge to get into this position. It will take a while to re-establish the lodge. There should be an OSIA presence in the Capital region of NJ.

·        Al wants to hear from members.

·        Meeting at the library has saved the lodge money since it is free to hold meetings here.

·        The post office box has not been checked lately. Cindy and John will check it this evening. Payment was due in December for the post office box. It wasn’t paid until January.

·        It was suggested to have the June General meeting at the Dorothea House. Since they have a kitchen we could bring food and possibly have a pot luck dinner. Cooking cannot be done on their premises. It was also suggested to meet at a pizzeria. Pappas in Chambersburg was suggested. Steve mentioned it may be hard to book something at a restaurant due to graduation parties.

·        Al’s contact to assist with a golf tournament will not be able to help at this time due to a death in the family. Golf tournaments are difficult, costly and require a lot of people to help out. Having a bocce tournament and “casino” night was also suggested as possible fundraisers. The purpose of the fundraiser would be to raise money for the scholarship fund. Steve inquired about the status scholarship for this year. Al said there will be no awards this year.

·        Al served as the “travel agent” for his family and arranged a trip to Italy that was very cost effective. He volunteered to do the same for the lodge if anyone was interested.

·        Bus trips were also suggested as possible lodge programs to places like Ellis Island. Janet has a contact that arranges these and will inquire.

·        Baking contests were suggested as possible programs.

·        There’s a May 22nd movie event at the Dorothea House. Perhaps we could join them again for a movie event.

·        The May 9th General meeting needs to be cancelled at the library. I will contact the library and try to reschedule for May 11th and will email the Board when I have a confirmed date.

·        Steve mentioned his Hungarian Club meets at the Elks. His dues are $10.00.

Adjournment:  Meeting was adjourned at 7:55 PM and was followed by coffee and dessert.

Minutes submitted by:                                 Maria Ferris, 4/12/11