News from The Craco Society:

In the month since the Reunion, The Craco Society has been working on plans to address the recommendations that emerged from the meeting.  We are moving ahead by assigning a Society officer the responsibility of developing recommendations within a committee.  The newly formed committees and their responsibilities are:

Social & Cultural Committee:  established to preserve and promote the culture, traditions, language, and customs of Craco by planning future reunions, events, trips/tours and participate as Society representative at other organizations. Lena Camperlengo, Vice President is the committee leader.  This group, with the current involvement of two additional members is managing the following initiatives from the Reunion:

·        Organizing a group trip to Craco

·        Planning the 2008 Reunion

·        Creating a “Craco” t-shirt and quilt

Website Committee: tasked with creating and maintaining The Craco Society web site.  Bob Rubertone, Vice President serves as leader.   Besides reserving the web name and address of “TheCracoSociety.org” to be used in conjunction with the website, the site design and layout is complete.   The Craco Society website will be monitored and maintained with the assistance of one member.

Historical Committee:  works to document and publish information about the history of Craco in written, video, photographic and digital forms.  Joe Rinaldi, Vice President is the committee head.  This group has begun the process of assessing the creation of photo book or English language history of Craco and recruited several members to assist in the process.

Preservation of Craco Committee:  collaborates with third parties to evaluate the feasibility of promoting the restoration and preservation of buildings or sections of Craco Vecchio.  Joe Rinaldi, President is the committee leader.  This committee is researching the existence of any plans and also obtaining historical documents relating to the structures and property in the town.

In addition to committee activities, the ongoing operations of the Society are maintained by Finance and Membership functions.  These functions are staffed by the existing officers.  

Finance function manages the Society’s treasury, legal and regulatory compliance requirements.  This area is also applying to the Italian Regional Authority for recognition and exploring other sources for support.   

Membership function manages membership records, solicits new members, responds to membership request for Society research material or assists with family research along with ongoing correspondence to members.  This area is managing the following initiatives:

·        Obtaining copies of Note Storiche Sul Comune Di Craco

·        Conducting a new member campaign

·        Developing a family membership plan

·        Seeking family history research sources in Craco 

Over the coming weeks as these efforts move along, we will keep you informed through messages on this web page or via email and direct mail.