Welcome from the Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF

Welcome

Nancy DiFiore Quinn, Chairman Joseph Sciame, President

Welcome to the 32nd Annual National Education & Leadership Awards (NELA) Gala.

Tonight, we proudly honor extraordinary Italian Americans: The Polo Family; Yolanda Cellucci; Bob and Lisa Tramontano; and Joseph Mele. We are also proud to be hosting several veterans as our guests for tonight’s gala, including our NELA Gala Honorary Chairman General Peter W. Chiarelli (United States Army, Ret.).

In addition to these extraordinary honorees and courageous veterans, we celebrate the promising future of our ItalianAmerican youth. This year’s Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF) scholarship winners were selected for a combination of exemplary academic performance, school leadership, and community service. The SIF and its national scholarship program are proud to contribute to the future of such students as they pursue higher education that will lead them to many impressive accomplishments down the road.

Finally, we come together on this night to recognize the Sons and Daughters of Italy and raise money for its Foundation. To date, members have raised more than $165 million for charities and scholarships. Prior to the pandemic, we helped commemorate the opening of a kindergarten and elementary school in Muccia, a town located in the Marche region of Italy that was devastated by the 2016 Central Italy earthquake. The SIF was proud to contribute a total of $200,000 toward the rebuilding of the school, a project that was spearheaded by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation. This substantial donation was made possible through the contributions of individual members, Local Lodges, and Grand Lodges of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America.

In addition to disaster relief, the SIF also donated $20,000 to Help Our Military Heroes—the SIF’s seventh contribution in eight years. The donation provided a minivan for United States Coast Guard CPT Lucas ‘Luke’ Jackson (ret.). To all veterans in attendance tonight, we are indebted to you for your service and your sacrifice.

Not to be overlooked are the many other donations we have made to several important causes. In 2019, the SIF contributed $5,000 to the placement of a Constantino Brumidi Statue in Annapolis, Maryland, and in 2020, the SIF contributed $15,000 to The V Foundation for Cancer Research and $10,000 to Ronald McDonald House of New York. These are but a few examples of the variety of worthy causes that the SIF has most recently supported.

This evening, we are proud of the SIF’s commitment to giving back as well as the many other ways in which our Local Lodges and Grand Lodges have given to those in need on a local, national, and international level. It is an evening such as this that allows us to honor these collective efforts and helps raise funds so that the SIF may continue its mission.