A Message from the President

Dear members and friends:

I would like to start my message by thanking all of the members of the executive committee and other positions of leadership who have terms coming to an end. Our society is entirely run by volunteers, and we are only able to continue to exist and put on these incredible programs because of the generosity and skills of our members who are willing to help.

I would like to in particular highlight the contributions of Nancy DeSanti and Maria D’Andrea-Yothers. Nancy has been doing our programs for over a decade. Maria has not only been president of the society but has helped out in most every role that we have. We are greatly indebted to each of them.

At the same moment as we lose some members of the board, we will be welcoming two new members. You should have received notifications about how to vote for the candidates through email or postal mail. In addition there will be paper ballots at the November wine tasting. I believe the nominating committee comprised of Mark Lino, Rico Allegrino, and Maria D’Andrea-Yothers have done a tremendous job of finding new candidates for the board that will be tremendous assets to the society going forward.

At our previous general membership meeting, the culmination of over a year of work of the executive committee was realized in the amendments to the bylaws that govern our organization. This has allowed us to streamline the society and will leave us well positioned for the future. 

One of the benefits of this change is there will be more opportunities for members to help in committee positions that don’t require the same level of commitment as it does to be on the board. If you would be interested in helping out with any of the committees that cover things such as scholarship, socials and events, communications, etc., please let me know. Also if there are any programs or events that you would like to see us do in the future please contact me at  president@abruzzomoliseheritagesociety.org.

We are also excited to announce that we will be updating our website and communications technology soon. This will lower the technology costs for the society and increase our functionality. In addition we have updated our advertising materials such as flyers and will be launching our first national advertising campaign in Primo magazine. 

Lastly, although the year is coming to an end, we still have a few events coming up. Our annual wine tasting will be November 17th, and we will have an aperitivo happy hour at Officina at the wharf on December 16th. You can read more about these events on our website or in your email communications. 

In the coming year, we will incorporate more content that highlights the specific regions of our society and will incorporate some of the stories of our members. In addition, we are excited to permanently bring back our film series. We have a couple documentary films that we will be featuring with the next one being “Breaking Balls,” a documentary about bocce. At the midpoint of next year, we will be launching a film discussion series that features films from or about our regions. 

As we approach the holidays, we have many things to be grateful for as a society and many things to be excited about in the future. I hope to see you at some of our events over the next few weeks. 

I would like to wish you a joyous Thanksgiving, a merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year, 

Best regards,
Chris Renneker