A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear members and friends:

By the time this message gets to you, most of the summer will be behind us and fall will be fast approaching. What is still not behind us, unfortunately, is the pandemic. Our conversations continue to be sprinkled with references to phrases such as “delta variant, breakthrough infection and booster shots,” once the preserve of professionals in the health field. So, as another season rolls by, we are still waiting for the day when the virus is truly in our rear view mirror. Although the pandemic is still a significant problem, you may have felt at least a temporary return to normalcy if you attended our recent Ferragosto picnic, our first live event in over 17 months. It took place on August 15 at the Ben Brenman Park in Alexandria, Virginia, and was co-sponsored by your society and the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center (CISC). The event was a great success.

We had an outstanding turnout, perhaps our best ever. The weather cooperated and everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves with good food and drink, music, volleyball, bocce ball, and more than enough fellowship to go around. In short, the day offered a great opportunity for members and friends of the AMHS and the CISC to reconnect physically, enjoy an outdoor picnic, make new friends and renew acquaintances. We are grateful for the CISC’s co-sponsorship of the event, and we hope that it marks the beginning of a close collaboration — even partnership — in the years ahead. Speaking of the future, we are pleased to remind you that our first in-person general meeting of 2021 will occur on October 3 at the CISC. Our guest speaker will be Steve Livengood, the Chief Visitor Guide of the U.S. Historical Society.

Mr. Livengood is an excellent speaker and so we should be entertained while learning about the Italian connection to the Capitol. You can learn more about the event in the article by Nancy DeSanti (First Vice President-Programs) that appears later in this newsletter. Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the event. While you have your calendar out, you should also mark the date of November 28. That’s the day when our annual wine tasting event resumes this year, again at the CISC. This fun get-together is always one of our most popular events and should be especially enjoyable because we were unable to hold it physically last year due to the pandemic. Stay tuned for additional details. In the meantime, enjoy the cooler weather, the changing colors of the leaves, apple picking and all the other treats brought to us by the fall season.

Regards,

Ray LaVerghetta