A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear members and friends:

The spring has offered us its usual array of pleasures — mild weather, green grass, beautiful blooms, and a hint of summer. At the same time, its arrival came amid most unusual circumstances, unlike any most of us have ever experienced. I refer of course to the pandemic called COVID-19, which has taken the lives of many people around the world. Among those lost are thousands of Italians and thousands of Americans, including of course some number of Italian Americans. The lethal virus struck first in China, then South Korea, Italy and the U.S. Millions across the world watched on TV, computer and cell phone screens as Italian hospitals, doctors and nurses, medical researchers and civic authorities pulled together to take care of the sick and combat the spread of the virus.

They also saw Italians demonstrate a remarkable resilience and determination to get through the crisis, as depicted on our newsletter cover and detailed in a subsequent article by AMHS Vice President Nancy DeSanti. Seeing events unfold in Italy was of course especially poignant for the Italians abroad and for Italian Americans everywhere, including in our own community, worried about family and friends both in Italy and, for us, here at home. As I write this message to you, I am in quarantine — the same situation in which you may be reading it. We have all had to adjust to the changes in everyday life around us — the closing of stores, schools and public places, the suspension or cancellation of the schedules of professional sports teams, of March Madness and of the Wimbledon tournament, the discontinuation of public Mass and other religious services in our churches, to cite a mere sampling.

Our organization too has had to adjust to the new reality. We cancelled our March 22 general meeting, which was to feature author and speaker Carla Gambescia. In normal times, this newsletter would have shown a picture from that meeting on its cover. We hope to re-schedule this event sometime later this year, if life as we used to know it returns. We have also cancelled our 20th anniversary celebration that was to take place on June 14th, which we intend to re-schedule later this year or perhaps next year. We will keep everyone informed of our new plans regarding these activities as soon as we are in a position to make them. One AMHS function that has not been impacted is the work of our Scholarship Committee, which, as usual during this time of year, has been hard at work reviewing and ranking the applications for this year’s scholarship winners.

We were especially pleased that we actually received applications this year given the disruption to academic and student life brought about by the pandemic, and given our late start in setting up the program to operate on its own. In years past, we partnered with the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) to run the program. However, as you may recall, late last year NIAF made the decision to discontinue its matching scholarship funds, terminating its administrative support to us at the same time. So it wasn’t until rather late in the usual scholarship cycle (late January of this year) that we were up and running on our own. The Committee expects to be able to announce the winners on time in early May. Look for the results in our next newsletter. I encourage everyone to take part in a survey that has been sent out to our membership. One of our Board members, Andrea Balzano, headed up a small group of colleagues to come up with a short series of questions aimed at obtaining feedback on AMHS activities.

This is an excellent opportunity for our members to provide their opinion on the activities that the Society undertakes and to offer suggestions on alternatives. The survey is short and takes only a few minutes. Please look for it in your email queue — you should find that it arrived on April 5. The subject or title of the email is: “Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society — We want your opinion”. This is your chance to comment on our programs and have your views considered. The current crisis has demonstrated just how interconnected we are on this planet. We are really one family — the human family. What a wonderful world it would be if we could all act on this insight! The crisis has also shown us to what extent we are social beings. Without interaction with others, without the human touch, we are just not whole. Our AMHS events are rooted in this reality — they create and strengthen a community that shares a set of values. A chunk of us has been missing as a consequence of self-isolation and social distancing. I look forward to the time when we can be whole again.

Best regards,

Ray LaVerghetta