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Light Drizzle Longtime community organization disbands
Declining membership causes Edward J. Speno Lodge 2568 to fold after 30 years in East Meadow
The Edward J. Speno Lodge 2568, East Meadow’s local chapter of the Order Sons of Italy, has decided to disband after nearly 30 years in the community.
Carmine Biscardi, the group’s president for the last five years, said the decision was a unanimous one by the group’s officers. He cited declining membership and a lack of participation as the reason for its closing.
The group, which aims to embrace Italian heritage while also fundraising for several charities, met once per month, most recently in the park on Salisbury Park Drive. In the last few years, said Biscardi, membership decreased from about 55 to 35, and, besides the group’s officers, only about two or three other community members would attend meetings.
“It was really sad for us to break up,” said Biscardi, who is a one of a handful of charter members who remained in the organization. “We didn’t want to do it but we had no choice.”
The group also had problems recruiting younger members, Biscardi said.
The East Meadow chapter was founded in December of 1984, and Biscardi said the group has fundraised for numerous charitable organizations that fund research for various illnesses, like Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and Cooley’s anemia. The group also aimed to encourage grade school students to learn the Italian language, and lent scholarships to high schools.
It was one of approximately 70 chapters in New York, which combine to form the Order Sons of Italy in America Grand Lodge of New York. In turn, the statewide chapter belongs to Order Sons of Italy in America, which has existed since 1905.
Biscardi said there are about 30 chapters in Long Island, and that the group plans to transfer its membership to the Westbury chapter, Donatello Lodge 2559. “So we’re still going to be involved as a community,” he said. To learn more about the Sons of Italy, visit http://www.nysosia.org.
