Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina Tierney, President.
Hi Gina, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Our Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge was founded in 1992. During that year we incorporated in South Carolina as a non-profit organization and were presented with our official OSIA charter. The lodge is recognized as the oldest and largest continuously operating lodge in the state of South Carolina.
Our lodge meets regularly on the second Sunday of each month, and we have over 300 members. Membership is open to women and men of Italian heritage as well as non-Italian heritage.
We are a very community-minded lodge, and we are able to contribute regularly to a number of non-profit organizations, such as South Strand Helping Hands, Canine Angels, Veterans Welcome Home Center and Fostering Hope to name a few.
Our largest fund-raiser is our Drive Through Feast, which is held on the third Saturday of every month starting in February and going through to October.
We offer an All You Can Eat Pasta night every Wednesday which is quite popular with members and also non-members, who have become regulars on Wednesday Nights. Music Bingo has recently become a hit at the lodge and it’s a great evening to spend with friends, enjoy our pub menu and win a prize!
Our members enjoy a dart league, card night, Bocce and 2 golf leagues.
We are also able to provide an Horry County Senior with a $2500.00 scholarship with our Bill Rohan Memorial Scholarship. The student must be of Italian descent and reside in Horry County.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Maintaining a strong involved membership is always a struggle, with over 300 members we have about 10% that are truly involved and keep the lodge running on a consistent basis. We do not have paid employees, and we rely on our members to assist in making our events successful both by attending and working the event.
Maintaining our two (2) building is always a challenge – with a full commercial kitchen and all the equipment that needs to be maintained on a regular basis does get costly. Replacing older equipment as needed, is very much a challenge for a non-profit organization.
Keeping our members engaged in our activities is also a challenge – trying to find new exciting events for our members to attend and keep our costs down, is not easy. Our music bingo nights have been a huge success for the lodge and our members love it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Our lodge is known as the oldest and largest Italian Club in South Carolina.
We offer great Italian food at very reasonable prices. We are best known for our monthly drive-through feasts. We offer a full menu “to-go” and you never leave your car! Some of the items included are meatball & sausage subs, fresh warm bread, cannoli’s, eggplant parm, lasagna, and best of all warm zeppoli! the drive-through was created during covid to keep the lodge running. We serve over 300 cars on a Saturday and it’s all done with our volunteers. Over the years, we have re-evaluated our products, processes by listening to our customers. We now have a well-oiled machine and it’s a site to behold on a Saturday.
Our Wednesday night pasta nights, which are open to the public, offer 2 entrees that are All You Can Eat! We also provide 2 specials that night, and many ala carte items such as meatballs in sauce, sausage/peppers & onions, a fresh house salad and dessert and let’s not forget the warm bread or garlic bread. Currently our price for non-members is $12.00 for the All You Can Eat entrees.
We have a full bar that includes many top shelf items, draft beer and bottled beer and of course, we offer wine by the glass which does include a chianti!
Our volunteer staff for our events are friendly, greet you when you walk in the door and are there to help assist you through the buffet or make you a fabulous specialty drink such as an espresso martini or one of our other ever changing special drinks.
We welcome the public to any of our events and you don’t need to be Italian to join our organization, we offer a “social” membership that entitles you to all the benefits of membership except being elected President or Vice-President.
Events such as Breakfast with Santa, our food drive in November, Toys for Tots & Fostering Hope gift tags on our Christmas trees are a great way to give back to our community. We work with the local schools providing meals for athletic teams, choirs & of course the teachers lunches and collect many school supplies at the start of school.
Our Fish Fry’s are also a favorite with the members and the public – all fresh seafood at an affordable price and we offer them during lent (see our Facebook Page for the dates under events) as well as other times during the year.
We are also available for private parties and pick up catering. We are very proud that we sell out each December for Christmas Parties and some groups have been coming back for years. We also offer a decoration service for your party if needed. Custom menus are available and of course, our Italian Buffets are always a huge hit!
The lodge is also available for meetings for local groups – HOA meetings, golf league meetings, business meetings, etc.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sonsofitalymb.com
- Facebook: Sons of Italy Myrtle Beach 2662
