Dec. 2023 LaCarota
President’s Message:
Ciao Tutti. As always, I hope that this edition of our newsletter finds you all happy. Healthy and safe! With the change of the weather and the drop in temperature I hope that everyone has made the change from Tee shirts to hoodies and flip flops to sock tops. Has everyone adjusted to the time change yet? I personally dislike the shorter days and colder weather. I’m hoping that they will get rid of Daylight Savings time once and for all. Some of you may like it and that’s great if it works out for you, but this kid loves the sunsets at 9pm. More time to do and play! I can hardly believe that we are already a few days away from Thanksgiving. Where did the time go? I remember November just getting here. Hopefully most of you have purchased all of your TG dinner items and are getting ready for the big day. The air will be filled with the sweet aroma of all the different meals that will be prepared that day. The calorie counter is about to start. LOL!
Christmas Dinner:
On Sunday December 10th at 3pm, Club Paesano will be holding its annual “Members Christmas Party”. It’s an event that we put on for our members to bring in the holiday season and get our CP families together. It’s also the day that we bring on our newly elected Board of Directors, and our newest members that we have elected to be a part of our growing family. Our dinner will be catered in and wine, beer and soft drinks will be provided. After dinner we will burn off some carbs by singing a variety of our favorite Christmas carols including one of our fan favorites “Dominic the Christmas Donkey”. The “12 Days of Christmas” always gets the crowd in a buzz too, although sometimes it gets confusing! LOL! Last but not least, we all wait in anticipation for the arrival of old Saint Nick himself, Santa Claus! He’ll have gifts for the children and it’ll be a great time to get your Christmas photos done. In a week or so, you should be receiving a call inviting you and your family members to dinner. As always, members, their spouses, partners and any children that are 21 yrs. and younger and are still living in the same household are free. Any other family members or guests that you would like to invite will be charged a fee. This is a great party and has always been a favorite. Let’s bring in the Christmas Season the Club Paesano way! We will see you and the family there.
Fun Committee:
Fun is our name and Fun is what we strive to do. Our Monday Night Socials are alive and kicking! We are there every Monday night unless there is a conflict with an event rental. In that case I will put out an email to let you all know. Food, drink, football and dice, fill the evening but most importantly are the laughs, conversation and comradery that is shared between our members. As I’ve said in the past, it’s a great chance to get to know your fellow CP members in a pretty relaxed environment. A couple of Monday’s ago, we had a mini wine tasting to sample a different variety of wines that we may purchase for our upcoming events. Our members participation and opinions matter to us, so expect to have several more of these in the future. Thank you to our Master Chef, Jim Calcagno for stepping up and making us a great meal for the tasting. Porchetta, bruschetta, charcuterie, loches and many more items were prepared by Jimmy himself. Jim loves to create and take care of his fellow members and we always love and appreciate when he volunteers to cook, which is quite often. Thank you to the rest of you that brought in something to share and for all of the help in the kitchen. It was much appreciated. We want to continue to do more of these types of things, so if you have any fresh ideas, please let me know and I will do whatever I can to make it happen. We are also planning a Christmas outing for our members. Our tentative plan is to get a group of Paesano’s together and head out to Silverton OR. for their annual Christmas Festival. Some of us got together and went there a few years ago. It was a great time with many things to do and very kid friendly. We are currently working on a mode of transportation that can take all or most of us there all together. You will still have the option of just meeting the group there too. If you want to know more about it, please check out their website to see if it would be something that you and your family would like to do. The website is silvertonchristmasmarket.com. We will be finalizing all of our plans shortly. Right now, we are looking at Sunday December 17th. Time to be determined. I will send out an email to let you all know when everything is set. Watch for it.
Bocce News:
I am sad to announce it but our “Fall League” has finally come to a close. It was a very good run of 9 weeks. Thank Goodness Mother Nature cooperated and gave us the opportunity to get a lot of bocce in. It was a fun laid back time which some of us referred to as our “Sunday Morning Church”. We had a lot of new faces and some of our regulars took part as well. It was very nice to see some of our newer members get a chance to play with some of our more experienced members to help them learn the game better. A fun time had by one and all. If you played and want to see the final standings, please go to our Paesano Bocce Club Facebook page. You will get standing pictures and all of our up-to-date news there. You can also visit our bocce website paesanobocceclub.com. We have news, the latest info, pictures, schedules and plenty of apparel, personal pavers, and Family/ Business signs of all sizes that you can order to be placed around our courts and our fencing that will face the Spring Water Trail. It’s a place where hundreds of people a day pass by, whether they are biking, jogging or running. An inexpensive place to advertise a business if you have one. As always, we will always take a monetary donation as well. We’ve made it very easy now. Just hit the “Donate Now” button to be able to donate any amount you’d like. Very cool and simple. Christmas is around the corner so if you are in need of some gifts still, we have some good-looking apparel that you can purchase. A personalized paver would be a fantastic idea too! Some of our Club Paesano members joined forces with our Paesano Bocce club members to play in tournaments out of town this past weekend. One of the tournaments attended by members, Mario Pompei, Ben Meititiro, Antonio Meititiro, and myself was just outside of Dallas Texas at a Horse track. The other tournament attended by Doug Burchak, Kelly Barasch and Paul Barasch was held at the Peppermill Casino in Reno Nevada. Although none of our teams fared very well with the heavy competition that was there, we all had a great time and represented Oregon and Paesano Bocce Club well. It was a terrific time and I’m looking forward to getting back there next year. I’m also looking forward to our leagues and tournaments next year. If you are a Club Paesano member that has an interest or would like to play and join a team please go to our website, our Facebook site or speak to one of our board members. Anyone of us will give you all of the info that you will need to get on board. Just let us know. Mario Pompei, Doug Burchak, Kelly Barasch, or myself.
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 and Prayers:
Our deepest condolences go out to Marc Fazio and his whole family. Three weeks ago, Marc lost his wife and partner Kathy to a long bout with cancer. She fought as hard as she could. The Fazio family has been involved with Club Paesano for a long time. If you have a minute, please let Marc know that you are thinking about him and his family. I’m sure that he would appreciate that. Extra thoughts and prayers go out to Geno Benagni, Chris Siri, my parents and in-laws, and the rest of our Club Paesano Members and family. May God bless us all! If there is anyone that you would like to add to our prayer chain, please let me know by mid-month so I have time to add it into the newsletter.
LaCarota Question:
Congratulations go out to Jimmy “Bam Bam” Burch for winning the coveted bottle of vino last month. Jimmy is a constant scrapper that answers about 99% of my questions. I appreciate that and his tenacity trying to take home another bottle to add to his collection. So far he has been the biggest threat to Mario “POM,,,PEI’S” title. Mario is another one that comes out swinging at every question. That’s probably why he is the reigning “Vino Champ of the WORLD”!
So, to give the rest of you a chance to sneak back into this race, I’m going to make this one as simple as can be. This is not a question of right or wrong, just your choice. Seeing that our Thanksgiving Dinner is around the corner, I just want to know this one thing. Turkey or Ham? That is, it. Turkey or ham for Thanksgiving Dinner. It could even be both. Just answer back your favorite protein for TG’ing dinner. ALL answers will be entered to win our “Holy Grail”.
Good Luck!
Club Paesano Board of Directors, New members & Member of the Year:
Like every year end, we have our Board of directors’ elections, we vote in our newest members and we also vote on our “Member of the year” candidates. This year we have a few Board members that are at the end of their terms but may run again along with some new members that were nominated.
Club Paesano Members Click here to print out your Ballot
https://clubpaesano.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-Ballot.jpg
Officers that have one year remaining: Rick Cervi – President / Jim Calcagno – VP / John Benagni – Sergeant at Arms / Geno Benagni – Board / Domenic Guisto – Board / Carlos Barajas – Board.
Officers that are at the end of their term: Mario Pompei – Board / Doug Burchak – Board / Chris Siri – Board / John Kern – Treasurer / Jimmy Siri – Secretary
Nominees for 2024 Board of Directors:
Mario Pompei – Board
Doug Burchak – Board
Chris Siri – Board
Phil Potestio – Board
Mirella Rizatti – Board
Marc Battilega – Secretary
New Member Applicants:
Steve Leonetti (Jim Siri)
Donna Sunsiri (Mirella Rizatti)
Bob Bevilacqua (Jim Burch)
Tom Allabastro (Rick Cervi)
Mike Rossi (Nick Rossi)
Member of the Year Candidates:
John Benagni
Kelly Barasch
Carlos Barajas
Jim Calcagno
Doug Burchak
Marc Battilega
Final Thoughts:
As we come upon our Thanksgiving Feasts and our day off to spend with our closest family and friends, let us never forget why we need to be so thankful. Your families, your friends both near and far. Your liberties and your freedoms. Your choices, expressions and most of all your voice. The freedom to express your feelings and be heard. Let us not forget the downtrodden and the people in 3rd world countries that have none of the things that we easily take for granted. The people in war torn and terroristic countries that wonder if they will survive another day and what their futures hold. Our military that keeps us safe and free! Let us just remember to give thanks for every day that we have on this great earth and never take it for granted. Tell your family and loved ones that you love them and don’t go to bed angry. Let us always give thanks for our lives, wellbeing and our Club Paesano family too. God bless and Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Salute,
Rick