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  Labor Day Weekend Means Convention Time For ICFBy Michelle Feldman Editor With warm sea breezes and a Southern California flair, the Italian Catholic Federation welcomes you to its 78th Annual Convention, hosted in the "City of Youth and Ambition," Garden Grove, California. Members of the ICF during Labor Day weekend 2008, August 29 through September 1, will take over the Crowne Plaza Anaheim Resort. With the hotels prime location arriving early is a must in order to take in all the shopping that Southern California has to offer, and, not to mention, Disneyland and the California Adventure Theme Parks just down the street. The Agenda for the Convention is listed on the back page of the Bollettino, but here are some of the highlights not to miss. Although the business session of the Convention doesn't begin until Saturday, the festivities begin on Thursday, August 28 with Bocce at the hotel, and an Orange District hosted dinner. For those arriving early on Friday there is an early morning Los Angeles City Tour, golf and Mass. Later in the day is the Pedro tournament and this year's highly anticipated debut of Bingo. After registering at the hotel and with the ICF, don't miss a chance to have an authentic English Tea Demonstration in the Mazatlan C Room from 3pm to 5pm. The Opening Ceremony begins at 8pm with Master of Ceremonies, Robert Basuino, guiding everyone through the night's festivities. Grand President Michael Rossi will make the Grand President's Award presentation to Elizabeth "Liz" Donaldson. Then the parties begin. The Central Council Candidates will be hosting hospitality rooms from 9:30pm on. Food, drinks, and plenty of camaraderie and conversation will be flowing around the hotel. Saturday will be a busy day, beginning at 9:00am with the various workshops. Delegates and attendees have the choice of Public Relations, Open Forum, Thalassemia (Cooley's Anemia), and Spiritual themed workshop. Later in the morning is the Memorial Mass in Italian and English. After a two hour break, the afternoon business session gets to the nuts-n-bolts of the Convention with the Central Council Candidate speeches, the discussion and voting of proposals, and the Central Council Officers' reports. The Family of the Year Award will be presented to the Tomasello Family, and new to the Convention, the Young Adult Leadership Award will be presented to Richard Interrante and Michelle Rubi. One of the main highlights of the Convention is the Saturday night banquet. This year the evening will be honoring Pope John XXIII Award recipient David Rose. During the Business session on Sunday, beginning at 9am, the new Central Council will be elected. The results will be revealed later in the day. The Mother Teresa Award presentation will be made to Fr. Loren Blessing. Dr. Elliott Vichinsky, M.D. from Oakland Children's Hospital, and Laurice Levine, Outreach Coordinator at Children's Hospital will also be on hand to accept the National Charity donation. It is always interesting to hear both Dr. Vichinsky and Laurice speak of the enormous impact the donation makes in the lives of those at Children's Hospital with Cooley's Anemia. On Sunday evening, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm there will be no-host cocktails at the Margarita Bar, followed by dinner and a presentation of "Joey and Maria's Family Reunion". Monday, September 1 at 9am will be the prayer service and installation of new officers' ceremony. At this time the newly appointed officers of the Italian Catholic Federation will be sworn in and the Grand President will make his customary address to those in attendance. The 78th Annual Convention will then come to a close. If you don't make it to the Closing Ceremonies, don't worry, the speech made by the Grand President will be printed in the October issue of the Bollettino. Enjoy your time in Garden Grove, and hopefully you will return home with a heightened sense of the value and importance each of you has in the future of the ICF! Italian Catholic Federation, 8393 Capwell Drive, Suite 110, Oakland CA 94621 tel: 888/ICF-1924; 510/633-9058; fax: 510/633-9758; Email: info@icf.org Website designed by HYPERSPHERE |