LAOH News

LAOH Division #23

Monthly Membership Meeting – Meeting

Friday, May 8, 2026, 7:00pm

Opening Prayers/Special Intentions:

Prayers 🙏

Please keep Sis Roche (mother of our sister Sallie Ollio) in your prayers as she takes on medical challenges and unbearable pain.
Donna Ricca who had surgery today, please pray for a speedy recovery.
Please pray for Dan’s Father.
Please pray for Molly as she travels to Ireland with the Ambassador Program and as she studies for her MCAT exams.
Vinnie Jone’s wife, Jen, is dealing with major medical issue.
Please pray for one year old Iris Hope who is dealing with a rare condition.

Praises 🙌

Pledge of Allegiance:

Roll Call: 📣

Present: President (Regina Byrnes), Vice President (Colleen DeFilippo), Treasurer (Kara Purnell), Recording Secretary (Carmella Law), Missions and Charities (Sue Bryan), Catholic Action (Jamie DePastino), Historian (Patty (Chavez),
Excused: Financial Secretary (Nan Pischke), Sentinel (Lois Callwood), Mistress at Arms (Germaine D’Amico)

Motion for Last Month’s Meeting Minutes:

Carmella sent out last month’s meeting minutes. A motion to accept the minutes without being read. Motion made by Jamie DePastino and seconded by Sue Bryan.

Installation of New Members:

Please join me in welcoming our new members: (both have been added to Gina’s email list and the current membership list. Kira is going to order Pins)

Kira Reiser
Molly Klima

Signing the Book The following member’s tags were added to the monthly drawing:

Sr. Sue Fazzini
Mary Hasson
Karen Farrell

Gina and Nan have an updated Members List and Gina is going to share it with the AOH men. This list is for them to know who all are active so when they pull a name, they can verify by checking the list. Gina will also go through all the names and double check to make sure we are current.

Officer Presentations:

PRESIDENT:

Colleen DeFilippo accepted the Mary Long award we received for marching in The St. Patrick’s Day Parade. We came in second place this year. Colleen was able to pass the award around for the members to see. Colleen also felt an honorary award should be given to the Juniors since they are the only Juniors marching in the parade and receive no recognition. She may speak to the parade committee about this.

The $42-$45 option (closer to home plate) received the most votes by a show of hands.
If you want to go to the Irish Heritage game, you need to call Savannah McVoy at the number below and let her know how many tickets and where your seating preference is: “with LAOH Group #23”. She will take your payment and make arrangements to get you your tickets.

Everyone is responsible for paying and retrieving their own tickets. Below is the person/ phone number you will call.
Make sure you indicate you want to be with our group LAOH Div 23 Group
Sign-In begins at 11:30am; Meeting starts at 12:00pm
Things we need to arrange:
Set up
Clean up
Kara will order the sandwiches and a side from Giant Eagle and Gina will pick it up
Gina will also get Pop and Water
Rosemary will coordinate the coffee and tea.

TREASURER:

Kara states she did not supply updated financials but gave them at the meeting.

Charity Fund Starting Balance	Operations Fund Starting Balance
$1,208.87	$4661.91

Charity Fund Ending Balance	Operations Fund Ending Balance
$1,038.87	$3686.91

Details on above transactions are available upon request.
Cash Bash update-Sunday, May 31st. Doors open at 1:30 and it starts at 2:00. $25 a ticket. See Colleen or Kara for a ticket. About 52% of the 250 available tickets have been sold. Volunteers are needed, please reach out to Kara or Colleen. Many members reached out to Kara and Colleen to volunteer. We will be serving Ham BBQ and Cheesy Potatoes. All members are welcome to bring desserts and appetizers. Collen wanted to mention that Beth Casey has been a role model in saleswomanship. She is taking tickets and hoping to sell to family and friends. Please keep this in mind when purchasing your tickets. If you think you can sell more tickets, and do not sell them, you can always return unsold tickets close to May 31^st. Every member should be purchasing a ticket. This is for our Charity Operating Fund.
Please remember that we are accepting donations of new leggings, sweatpants, underwear & socks size kids 5-12 this meeting and next meeting. You can send cash to Kara or bring donations into the meeting. This is for Megan’s nursing office in the elementary school. Kara stated she would ask Megan what else she needs and get a list for our meeting in September.

RECORDING SECRETARY:

Memorial Day Parade. A flyer was handed out with an inaccurate date on it. Please note the parade is always on Memorial Day, this year, Monday, May 25, 2025, at 10:00am. The revised flyer will be attached to the Minutes. Please wear your LAOH T-shirt.
Attending the National Convention shows the broad reach and impact our organization has across the country. Colleen will be attending as our delegate.
The 2027 State Convention will be held in Pittsburgh hosted by the LAOH Allegheny County, next July. This is a good time to think about how you may want to participate in when Pittsburgh hosts the LAOH PA State Convention.

VICE PRESIDENT:

Junior Update:

There will be a Juniors meeting next Sunday, May 17, 2026

County Board Meeting

We are going to host the County Board Meeting on June 13th.
Sign-up sheets will be going around to help with this event
Time volunteers need to show up: 10:30am

FINANCIAL SECRETARY:

No Report given at the meeting Nan is in Ireland35
- We have 114 Members
- 35 Unpaid (A friendly reminder will be sent out over the summer)

IRISH HISTORIAN:

Colleen and Patty discussed the LAOH Irish History Contest that just kicked off. If you know of any 6^th-12^th Graders, please share this information with them. Patty will be sending information to grade schools and high schools. We had very sparse participation last year, so please reach out to your grandchildren, sons, daughters, nieces and nephews. This is not limited to only young ladies. It’s a great topic, Saints of Ireland, Beyond, St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Columcille. Flyer attached
Patty shared with the members an excerpt from the Pittsburgh Catholic regarding Emulating St. Patrick’s generous, faithful spirit

CATHOLIC ACTION:

St Pio updates – Rosary society is currently meeting. If anyone is interested, contact Jamie
May is the month of Mary and Fr. Joe Freedy has suggested if you cannot say the whole Rosary daily, try saying one decade, the Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s and a Glory Be.

MISSIONS AND CHARITIES:

Sue has submitted the application for Sr. Florence for the St. Brigid Humanitarian Award. All her work with Angels and Overalls exemplifies all the characteristics and requirements for this. We have been notified that this application has been sent to National Level! She will be the State Representative.

Donation Request

Donations Made:

Motion was made for Project St. Patrick of $125 by Jamie DePastino seconded by Adrienne Reiser

A motion was made by Jamie DePastino for Soar of $125 by Jamie DePastino seconded by Adrienne Reiser

A motion was made by Jamie DePastino for the Columban Sisters of $125 by Jamie DePastino seconded by Adrienne Reiser

A motion was made by Jamie DePastino for the Camogie Club of $200 and seconded by Sue Bryan.

All paperwork for Catholic Action and Missions and Charities will be forwarded to Carmella.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and furbaby mothers.

God Bless you all!!

Events 🗓️

May	June	July
☘️5/27 -Irish Heritage Night for Pittsburgh Pirates – Sign ups to follow. Start @ $36 @ 300 level. Shovlin Dance Academy will be dancing. Many Juniors are members.	6/6 – St. Kieran’s all class Reunion	The National Convention
💵 5/31 Cash Bash – Doors open at 1:30 starts @ 2:00 $25	6/13 – LAOH Div 23 will host the County Board Meeting
Memorial Day Parade May 25, 2026 meet between 9:00- 9:30am at Butler and 36^th Streets. Wear LAOH T-shirts	6/20 1Pm – 7 pm AOH DIV 4 day of Irish entertainment Schuetzen Park $25. Visit aohdiv4.org for tickets. Can purchase at door.

LAOH Division 11 is trying to plan a trip to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine located in Emmitsburg, MD on Friday, September 18^th. This is an open invitation to all LAOH and AOH divisions in Allegheny County and any family and friends you would like to bring. We need at least 35 people to make it feasible, but we can certainly accommodate more. The cost is about $100 per person round trip. It’s a 4-hour drive so we would be leaving by bus at around 7:00am and returning around 10:00pm. As most of you know Sister Louis is a Sister of Charity and Elizabeth Seton is the first American born saint, so it might be nice to learn a little more about her.

Marlea Gallagher has been very instrumental in coordinating this. We would like to know as soon as possible if you are interested in this we would need to have a commitment by the second week of June. You can respond to kathy.schulz@outlook.com or 412-926-7617 or Marlea Gallagher 412-418-4360. Kathy can provide more details after we find out how much interest we have.

Good & Welfare of the Order:

Dues ($30) are being accepted for the 2026 year. You can pay in person at the monthly meeting to Nan Pischke or mail in your check to Nan Pischke at 1822 Jancey Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206.

You can also send Pay Pal to Kara but please remember to note that it is for annual membership dues.

Closing Prayers:

NEXT MEETING:

We are off for the Summer Break! 🌞 NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING will be September 11, 2026 @ 7:00 pm. Enjoy your summer Ladies!

Upcoming events:

61^st Annual Irish Open Golf Tournament will be held on Saturday, June 27 at 8:00 AM at Saxon Golf Course (839 Ekastown Road, Sarver, PA 16055). Cost of event will be announced as we get closer to the event date, but as always, it will include drinks & food at the course, and dinner back at the club afterwards.

July Bar Bingo will be held on Friday, July 10, 2026

July Trivia Night will be held on Saturday, July 18, 2026

August Bar Bingo will be held on Friday, August 14, 2026

August Trivia Night will be held on Saturday, August 22, 2026

Cookout at the Club on Saturday, September 5 – A.O.H. Division 23’s member’s appreciation cookout. The event will “kickoff” at Noon. Food will be served beginning around 4-5 PM.

September Bar Bingo will be held on Friday, September 11, 2026

September Trivia Night will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2026

October Bar Bingo will be held on Friday, October 9, 2026

October Trivia Night will be held on Saturday, October 17, 2026

November Bar Bingo will be held on Friday, November 13, 2026

Annual Turkey Shoot will be held on Friday, November 20 at 7 PM. You don’t need to be an expert marksman to win, and you’re virtually guaranteed to have fun if you attend, so really, you can’t lose! Come kickoff the Holiday Season with us, at what is one of our most popular annual events.

“Thanksgiving Eve” celebration will, oddly enough, take place the day before Thanksgiving, on Wednesday, November 25 at 7 PM. Thanksgiving chefs and non-chefs alike are welcome to get together at the A.O.H. before celebrating Thanksgiving.

November Trivia Night will be held on Saturday, November 28, 2026

Kid’s Christmas Party will be held on Saturday, December 5 at Noon.

December Bar Bingo will be held on Friday, December 11, 2026

December will not have a Trivia Night

Annual Christmas Sing Along featuring Tim & John will be held on Saturday, December 19 at 7 PM.

Irish New Year will be held on Tuesday, December 31. 2027 arrives in Ireland 5 hours earlier than it does in Pittsburgh. We will be opening early to celebrate the Irish New Year.

LAOH Division 23 ~ 25th Anniversary Celebration