THE SONS OF ITALY FOUNDATION ®
HELPING THOSE IN NEED
The Foundation Focus By Joseph Sciame, President
Well my sisters and brothers of the OSDIA and all supporters of our Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF), Friday, May 28, 2021, was certainly different. It was a virtual but grand National Education & Leadership Awards (NELA) Gala, like no other since 1989. Nonetheless, with the help of many and a sense of persistence—especially from our National Office staff—we did it! The pandemic made us grow in many challenging and interesting ways. We can also say that with great pride we saluted some very outstanding students and presented scholarships to fifteen students who are either graduating from high school or currently enrolled in universities (including one law student and one medical student). As an administrator in higher education, I am always proud to learn of organizations that support scholarships, and the SIF is doing just that. This year’s awards amounted to $100,000! That is a grand amount of scholarship support from one organization, especially one whose early members were unable to do such in 1905. Look at how far we’ve come over the span of 116 years since our founding.
veteran’s and his family’s life. This is a perfect example of the good we can do in the memory of our ancestors and in the name of our heritage! All of this would not be possible were it not for the ongoing generosity of our OSDIA members throughout the country—the efforts of local lodges and grand lodges and our SIF’s individual donors. One such individual couple remembered us in their estate last year and enabled us to establish the endowed Franzone Family Trust Scholarship with their $1.1 million dollar gift! They will be remembered forever and students will benefit in perpetuity from such generosity. As I close this message, to each of you, I urge you to join us on our journey to do even more. For students, for veterans, for many other worthy causes. Please support our mail order program, and our fundraising efforts. Think about us in your estate planning and memorialize your loved ones. For we are Italians and Italian Americans, and our DNA is full of such generosity. Ad summum is the motto—to the highest!
Another important feature of our NELA event was the presentation of a van to a most worthy veteran. As you will read below, the van has already helped ease this
Sons of Italy Foundation Donates Van to U.S. Coast Guard Veteran (continued from previous page) van. It’s made my life a whole lot easier as far as transportation goes,” he said. “It’s made me a lot more independent, a lot more willing to go out and do things on my own.” Prior to receiving the van, Luke had relied heavily on his wife, Ellen, whom he’d met while both were stationed for the Coast Guard in Alaska. “Having the van makes it a lot easier to get in like I could before my injury and just go out on a date and not have to worry about breaking down the SUMMER 2021
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wheelchair,” he said. “It adds a little bit more normalcy to my life.” HOMH works with each individual to provide a minivan with modifications specific to his or her needs. It was co-founded in 2009 by Laurie (née Serricchio) and Ted Hollander and Marybeth Vandergrift. Since then, they have awarded 165 adaptive minivans to deserving veterans. United States Coast Guard CPT Lucas ‘Luke’ Jackson (ret.) behind the wheel of his modified van donated by the Sons of Italy Foundation. ITALIAN AMERICA
