A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Members and Friends
/Cari Soci ed Amici, The New Year has gotten off to a successful start for AMHS, with a very well attended meeting on January 26, 2014. Close to 100 people gathered to hear a program on one of Abruzzo, and Italy’s, most prolific writers, Gabriele D’Annunzio. Professor Roberto Severino offered a very informative presentation on the life and poetry of D’Annunzio. At the March 30, 2014 general Society meeting, AMHS is honored to have Dr. John C. Mather, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, speak on “The History of the Universe from Beginning to End, and Observing with the James Webb Space Telescope”.
We will also hear from Laura Jones, one of the 2013 recipients of the AMHS/NIAF scholarship. I encourage all of you to attend what promises to be a very enlightening program. Be sure to read Nancy DeSanti’s articles on both the January 26 and March 30 meetings elsewhere in the Notiziario. Your Executive Committee has hit the ground running in 2014. We will work to bring you quality programs, to schedule activities that appeal to our membership, to collaborate with other Italian American organizations on issues of common interest, and to keep us on solid financial footing.
As many of you may know, Romeo Sabatini has decided to step down as Chair of the Scholarship Committee, the Publications and Publicity Committee, and the Website Management Committee. Romeo has shown tremendous dedication in these various pursuits, and it has been a great pleasure for me to work with him. He will be missed, but we know we will see him around at various AMHS activities. I am pleased to announce that Dick DiBuono has agreed to step in – for one year – as Chair of the Scholarship Committee. Maria Fresco has agreed to work with me as Editor and CoEditor of the Notiziario, and Sarah Scott and I are going to work together to find an appropriate Chair for the Website Management Committee.
While the positions being vacated by Romeo have been filled – or will be filled soon (we hope), we are in need of help. We have had a long-standing vacancy of Chair, Social Committee, and Dick DiBuono has been serving as Chair of the Fundraising Committee for a little over a year. Anyone who has skill or familiarity in either of these areas, please reach out to me or to Dick DiBuono to find out what is involved in chairing these committees. I wish to offer my personal thanks to the AMHS members who contributed generously to the AMHS Scholarship Fund in our donation drive held during the latter part of 2013 - we were quite successful, collecting close to $4000.00 for 2014.
Combined with monies collected from raffles, Dick DiBuono, Lucio D’Andrea and I were able to deliver a check for $4000.00 to NIAF on February 26, as our matching contribution to the AMHS/NIAF scholarship. Please be sure to read Dick DiBuono’s article on this fundraising initiative, and the scholarship, elsewhere in the Notiziario. In closing, I hope that the New Year has gotten off to a great start for all of us – we have certainly “enjoyed” some cold days and more than our share of snow; hopefully warmers days are ahead of us.
Cordiali saluti,
Maria D’Andrea