Saving Columbus Day
For much of its history, the United States considered Columbus a man worthy of admiration. Columbus Day is one of America’s oldest patriotic holidays, first celebrated in the 18th century. It was first celebrated on October 12, 1792, when the New York Society of Tammany honored Columbus on the 300th anniversary of his first voyage. America has more monuments to Columbus than any other nation in the world.
Columbus celebrates the beginning of cultural exchange between America and Europe. After Columbus, millions of European immigrants brought their art, music, science, medicine, philosophy and religious principles to America. These contributions have helped shape the United States and include Greek democracy, Roman law, Judeo-Christian ethics and the belief that all men are created equal.
Italian American Heritage Month
Italian American Heritage Month is celebrated every year to honor and recognize the centuries of achievements, successes, and valuable contributions of Italian immigrants and Italian Americans. It occurs in October to overlap with the federal holiday of Columbus Day, which is
celebrated on the second Monday of each October. Italian American Heritage Month was first celebrated in 1989 by a special proclamation of both Congress and President George H. W. Bush.
Over 5 million Italians immigrated to the United States between 1820 and 2000. Currently, there are over 26 million Americans of Italian descent residing in the United States. This makes Italian-Americans the fifth largest ethnic group in our nation. Each year Italians around the country take time to celebrate their heritage, history, and culture with festivals and parades. The largest parade occurs on Columbus Day in New York City and has over 35,000 marchers! Click here to see our list of festivals and find one near you!
MC-LEF, Educating the children of those who sacrificed all.
MC-LEF currently establishes a $35,000 educational account for every child who loses a parent serving in the United States Marine Corps or any Federal Law Enforcement Agency. Since our founding in 1995, MC-LEF has awarded over $89 million in educational accounts and other humanitarian assistance to over 4600 recipients. We have only one paid employee and, therefore, the vast majority of our efforts are performed by a dedicated group of volunteers who run our various events. Additionally, all officers and board members are also volunteers and together, we are extremely efficient in running our organization so that donor funds are predominantly used to accomplish our mission of Educating the Children of Those Who Sacrificed All. We at Mario Lanza Lodge appreciate everyone who has sacrificed for us, and are committed to this cause. For more information, see their website
at https://www.mc-lef.org.
Committed to Helping Our Local Community!
The Mario Lanza Lodge is committed to our community by helping the less fortunate not only at Christmas, but all year long. At our annual Christmas party this year, our members donated $2,500 in ShopRite gift cards to be handed out to local residents to assist in their holiday meals. Accepting the donations from Mike Tavani is the Mayor of Berlin Township, Phyllis A. Magazzu.
This is something we do every year along with other programs to help our community. For more information or to volunteer contact Mike Tavani.