Dear Friends and Supporters, It's a great joy for me to reach out to all of you today, in the height of a glorious summer, to remind you that October, Italian American Heritage Month, is just around the corner. As you know, for 40 years now NIAF has held our incomparable Gala Weekend to celebrate our community's countless accomplishments; today I invite you to join us for this year's 41st Anniversary Gala Weekend.

For those of you who were with us last year, whether it was your first time as our guest or your annual family tradition, I think it's safe to say we shared an event with a new vitality and unmatched excitement. Those three days were filled with incredible events, conferences, and experiences for Italians and Italian Americans from all over both of our great nations. Our revamped Expo Italiana brought more than 3,000 new faces into the NIAF family.

Our Friday night concert brought hordes of Italian American young people into our Foundation for the first time. And, of course, the weekend culminated in a revitalized award show style Gala. A night of great food, surprise entertainment, and the stories of truly incredible Italian Americans certainly left everyone in the room with a deep pride in our heritage.

This year's 41st Anniversary Gala celebrates not only our Region of Honor, Piemonte, but also the accomplishments of some incredible members of the Italian American family: Joe and Anthony Russo, the world renowned directors of Captain America: Civil War; Stefano Pessina, the international business icon; and Franco Harris, the NFL Hall of Famer, amongst other luminaries from Italy and Italian America.

We at NIAF have worked hard to make our Gala weekend more and more exciting and engaging, but also more accessible. Our new pricing model provides opportunities for everyone to participate over the Gala Weekend because our Gala is not just a fundraiser, it's a venue for this community to find one another, to share in our culture and heritage, and to bring the next generation to the center of what we are.

We hope you will take this opportunity to join us for what we are sure is the most heartwarming weekend of Italian American celebrations in our nation, and I personally look forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C.

For more information and tickets, visit our website www.niaf.org/gala, and as always, thank you for your incredible support of NIAF and our great Italian American family.

Yours in Partnership,

John M. Viola