November 2023 LaCarota
President’s Message:
Ciao, my fellow Club Paesano members. As always. I hope that this edition of our newsletter finds you all doing well. “Happy, healthy and safe”. As we enter into this Fall season, I’m sure that a lot of you are busy raking leaves and cleaning out downspouts. The Fall season is beautiful in the Pacific NW. Those of us who hunt, have either gone already or are getting ready to make the trip into the woods to get that elusive game to fill our freezers and maybe get a trophy as well. Our mushroom hunters are out there making a catch too. It’s definitely a great time of the year to be outdoors! Next week will bring Halloween and the scenes of little ghosts, goblins, other creatures and characters running up and down our neighborhood streets, with the hopes of filling up their pumpkins with some of their favorite candies and sweets. I always love to see the little ones and the creative costumes that people come up with. Always a fun time, just like our very own Halloween Dance we just had. Anyway, enjoy the season and keep an eye out for the little one’s next week. Happy Halloween!
Halloween Dance:
Speaking of Halloween, this past Saturday, October 21st, we had our annual Halloween Dance. I have to say, it was FANTASTIC! I feel bad for those of you that had to miss it. We had over 300 guests that partied the night away and filled most of our seats. Our board and our Charity “The Pink Sista’s” put a lot of work into this one and it paid off tremendously! We had the “Design Band” entertaining us, and our “World Famous” Spaghetti & Meatball dinner to fill everyone up. Deb Hart and her “Pink Sista’s” worked their magic and were able to bring a “Sellout” crowd. They had a raffle and a silent auction going on during the evening to make money for their charity. We were so happy to announce that they made $10,000 that night! I am so proud that we Paesano’s could be a part of that and a reason that they were so successful. In speaking to Deb afterwards, she told me that it was one of the biggest fundraising nights that they have ever had. Every dollar of that goes back to the breast cancer survivors that come to them in various stages of recovery, looking for support, love and comradery. What a wonderful cause and a blessing that Deb and the “Pink Sista’s are for the survivors. We should all be happy for them and proud that we Club Paesano members helped with that! That is always one of the great things that we do that is so beneficial to our community. We are blessed to be able to help out charities throughout the area. I feel it’s a good thing to keep our charity partners local so we can help our people living here in the Gresham and east county area. If you have a favorite local charity that you would like us to help and feel would be a good partner, please let me know so I can reach out to them and offer our assistance to help raise funds with them. Our next dance will be held on Saturday February 17th 2024. Our “Carnevale Dance” with our charity partner “Calabarzon”, and a new entertainment band to the club, “Crescendo Skye”. Please make sure to save the date. I will let you all know when our tickets go on sale.
Fun Committee:
Our Fun Committee is still having a great time with our Monday Night Socials. A Fun night of food, drinks, football, dice and a whole lot of laughs. It’s a great way to get to know your fellow Paesano’s and get out of the house for a couple hours on a Monday night. The comradery is fantastic! On Monday November 6th we plan on doing a wine tasting at the club. We will sample some local and international wines that we will provide. We are always trying different wines and scoring them to see what we may want to use for our events. If you can make it, please bring a dish to share with our wines or maybe your favorite bottle of wine for all of us to share and critique. Your dish can be an appetizer or some kind of charcuterie plate to go along with the wine. Hope to see you there.
A few of us got out to the Sons & Daughters of Italy’s (Vancouver) Spaghetti feed and scholarship fundraiser. It was a great dinner and they were very happy that we were there to support them. I feel that it’s a good thing for our clubs to lend a hand and to support one another. Club Paesano will be doing the same thing in the near future. It’s in the works. We are also planning on doing a trip to one of the many Christmas events going on throughout the city and county. We’ve gone to Silverton, Canby and Vancouver to enjoy a night out together, and to get in the mood for the Christmas season. I will let you all know when we have a solid plan and give you all of the details. If you have a favorite place that you and your family like to go before Christmas, please feel free to let us know, and maybe we can plan a visit there in December. I will let you all know. Stay tuned!
Bocce News:
Our Paesano Bocce Club is starting to wind down as far as bocce play goes. A lot of us are still playing in our Fall League. We are now coming upon our 8th week of play and will continue to keep playing as long as “Mother Nature” keeps cooperation. It’s been nice to see our members getting into the season, both experienced and newer players. It’s kind of like our Sunday morning mass. Everyone is being competitive, meeting more members and having fun! All leaving with a smile on their faces. We have updated our Bocce website to be able to purchase our apparel now. Signs and pavers can also be purchased online. The items can be shipped right to your door. You can also make a monetary donation by hitting the “Donate Now” button on the screen. We’ve come a long way folks! We are always trying to keep up with technology. I’d like to welcome our two newest board members. Lori Bass (Fiancée of CP member Greg DeMiestri) and Carol Nielson, a longtime Tuesday night player and former Chamber of Commerce President. Some of our Paesano bocce teams are going to tournaments in Dallas, Texas and Reno, Nevada. Congratulations and good luck to all the teams. I will give you an update next month on how everyone fared.
CP Christmas Party:
Save the date! Our annual Christmas party will be held on Sunday December 10th. Doors open at 3pm and the party will go till whenever the last family leaves! As always, a fantastic night to start the Christmas season off in “Paesano Fashion”! This has always been one of my favorite events for our club and members. Socializing, a delicious meal, Christmas carols, new members and a visit from good Old St. Nick himself. It all reminds me of my youth, growing up in my Italian club back home. A great time indeed. All members, their spouses or partners and any child still living in your home 21 years and younger will be complimentary. If you would like to bring other guests, there will be a price set for them to be determined. Marc Battilega will be calling to invite all members and will have prices set for guests as well. You can expect an invite call around Thanksgiving time. Don’t miss it!
Club Paesano Dues:
Our Club Paesano membership dues were due in June. If you haven’t paid John Kern as of yet, please make plans on paying him soon. You can mail him a check, or pay him at our next meeting. John will accept Credit cards, cash or checks. John’s a busy man, so please don’t make him chase you. If you need to pay your dues or any other payments, please take care of it. Thank you.
Cedarville Lodge & Park Rentals:
If you or someone you know are in need of a beautiful venue to rent for an event, please think Cedarville Lodge first. The club’s bookings are finally starting to pick up again, after this pandemic, but we can still use a little help. Please contact our Venue Director, Maria Duong, at 503-577- 8471 and she will be more than helpful and gracious in getting you all the info that you may need, and to also help you with coordinating your event.
Cedarville Park Shares:
If you are interested in owning a piece of this fantastic place and would like to purchase shares, please contact Steve Petruzelli at 503-620-3447 or email him at [email protected] . The Cedarville Board of Directors is holding a shareholder’s meeting on Wednesday November 22nd from 7pm till 9pm. Information about the Lodge and what’s been happening will be discussed. If you are a shareholder, you should plan on attending.
Thoughts & Prayers:
Thank you to all of you for your extra prayers for my family. It is much appreciated. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as their medical issues continue. Thank you! I would also like to add some more of our Club Paesano family to our prayer list. Please keep praying for Kathy Fazio and Becky Cereghino as they continue to recover. Let us also pray for the souls of Viki Cerruti (Wife of Richard Cerruti) and Ron Calcagno (Son of Founding member Bernie Calcagno). Both passed away recently. If you know their family members you may want to reach out to them. If you know of anyone in our family or even a friend that is in need of some support or an extra prayer, please let me know and I will add them to our prayer chain. Let us always pray and think about our fellow members, family and friends. Pray for strength, health and Famiglia!
New Board Members:
It is that time of the year again, where we bring in new CP Members and we nominate new board members to fill in for those that have completed their 2-year terms. New members will be invited into our next meeting to be introduced by their sponsors and to explain to us why they would like the honor of becoming a Paesano. New Board members can be “Nominated”, “Self-Nominated”, or existing 2-year board members can be nominated again. Anyone who feels like they can bring something new or help with the current board is welcomed to apply. As a member who has sat on the board for 3 years as a board member and am now in my 3rd year as president, I will tell you that it is hard work. If you want to join the board to add strength, help the club to grow and pick it up another notch then please apply. If you don’t think that you have the time and can’t put your whole heart into it, then please don’t. We need people that want to contribute and be a part of it full time! We are all at different places in our lives. If it’s not today it may be tomorrow, so please keep that in mind.
LaCarota Question:
Well, well, well. Look who’s back in town! The “Massachusetts Mauler & Comeback Kid” The boy from Rhode Island who dreamt that one day, he would be the Club Paesano’s winningest Vino winner to date! Congratulations goes out to none other than our very own, Mario “POM,,PEI”!
That’s right, Mario never lost his focus and came back from the depths of nowhere to take back his coveted title as “The Biggest Winner” of all time! Even when he wasn’t so fortunate, he kept guessing and putting his answers in there consistently till he finally got to add another bottle to his already loaded Club Paesano Wine collection. Shoot, at this rate we might have to start buying bottles from Mario’s collection for our next event. Loll!
Let’s see who can take down the Champ again. It’s happened before, let’s see if any of you can steal it away from him again. Jimmy Burch, Chris Siri, Domenic, Kelly?? This month’s question has to do with Famous Italians that changed their Italian names to help their celebrity in America. I have four famous Italians that did just that. I will give you their Italian names. I would like for you to give me their new names that they changed them to. 1st: “Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla” (No Kidding, a real name). 2nd: “Angelo Siciliano” 3rd: “Randall Mario Poffo”. 4th: “Carol Penelope Masciarelli. That’s it. Just give me the name that they use now and you will be entered to win this month’s Holy Grail. The coveted bottle of Vino. Good Luck!
Final Thoughts:
I just would like to reflect back on this past Saturday’s event. Our Halloween Dance. I was so happy to see so many people at our club, enjoying the dance and everything that we worked so hard to put together! With the help of a great charity partner, the “Pink Sista’s” we were finally able to get over the hump and get a “Sold Out” event. It wasn’t so much that it was sold out, but that there were so many people there having a fantastic evening and enjoying our club and what we all belong to. Many of us are doing our best to keep the club and our events popular and an event that people want to attend. With some changes and different ideas, we can keep it going. Obviously, we need to change with the times and stay relevant. I feel that we have been doing that, and still can do more. It was nice to see a lot of new faces and to hear so many of our guests say what a terrific venue we have. A couple people even told me how lucky we were to have it all! Every one of you should be proud of that and not forget that we are all a part of it. I would really like to see more of you there at our events though. Remember this is all a part of your club. Something to be very proud of and something for you and your families to enjoy. It’s a place to bring your friends and tell them “I belong to this place”! Have pride in it and know that there are very few places like CP. I really feel that we are fortunate to call this place “Home”. Just like your home, you need to participate and work on it or else it will fall apart. I’m not worried about that because we have the best members around. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, please take advantage of what we have here, it’s very special!
Love and take care of yourselves. Salute, Rick.