LaCarota
May 2024
President’s Message:
Ciao e Buona giornata. As always, I hope that this addition of our newsletter finds you all, Happy, healthy and safe! Hopefully all of you are getting things accomplished and completed. Is anyone making any travel plans for this summer? Prices are pretty inexpensive right now on flights over to Europe. It would be worth checking out if you were even thinking of it. A trip on the fly may be just what the Dr. ordered. I think that every once in a while, we need to pamper ourselves and recharge the batteries with a trip or even a relaxing “Staycation”. Whatever you do, make it fun and stress free! I will be leaving in a couple of days to fly back home to Canada to spend some well-deserved time with my family. I haven’t been back there in a few years and look forward to seeing everyone and getting a good intake of my mom’s cooking. It’s the best! I’m sure that most of you can say that too. Well, whatever you end up doing, have a great time and be safe
!
Spring Dance:
On Saturday May 11th we will have our annual “Spring dance”. As always, our doors open at 5:30pm and we will keep the party going till 11pm. Tickets are $25. Our last 2 dances have been pretty successful, so let’s stay in the spirit and make our Spring Dance just as good! Tickets are on sale now! Go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to purchase yours today. Don’t wait till the last minute and risk losing your favorite table. Our events are open to the public (21 yrs.) so please invite your family, friends and all of your acquaintances too! Please help us to reach the 300-guest mark. Do what you can to promote. Share it on your social media, take and post fliers and get the word out. The more the merrier and it all benefits our club and our members. Like I’ve said in the past. If you can’t make it, please give your tickets away to someone that will enjoy the event and hopefully become a long-time attendee. Make it a gift and know that you are helping your club out! Our Charity partner is “The Journey ” in Gresham. They are affiliated to “My Father’s House” who partnered with us last year. They help to transition houseless families into a home and to help them get back on their feet financially. Our live entertainment is by “Playback Jones”, a band that will have you out on the dance floor all night long! So far, we have only sold 38 tickets to date and we are less than a month away. Don’t rely on our charities to bring in all the guests, let’s do it ourselves and make it a “Sellout” and have some FUN!
Club Paesano Scholarship:
As you all know, we have our 1st Club Paesano Scholarship Fund in place now. We worked very hard at our fundraiser a couple of weeks ago to raise funding for it and we were able to raise $1700 after all expenses. The Club Paesano board of directors voted to add another $1300 to make it a grand total of $3000. The Scholarship committee and I have decided to divide it into 3 scholarships of $1000 each. The scholarship forms can be found and downloaded on our Club Paesano website at www.clubpaesano.org All the information for eligibility can be found on the forms. All forms, whether emailed or sent through the mail, must be returned no later than Friday May 10th. This will give our committee the required time that they will need to go over them and choose 3 winners. The announcement and presentation of the scholarships will be made at our June membership meeting which is now our “All Italians invited” Polenta Dinner on Wednesday June 5th. I’d like to thank our Scholarship committee once again for their fast work of getting the application done quickly so that it could actually go into effect this year to help out 3 lucky scholars in the fall. Good luck to all of our candidates!
Heritage Dinner:
This past Sunday, April 14th we celebrated our 3rd annual Heritage Dinner. Once again, our member and chef, Greg DeMaestri out did himself with another fabulous menu. The food was dynamite! He was assisted by his brother-in-law Dennis Grieng, his son Gianni, and our very own master of the kitchen, Jimmy Calcagno. Thank you to Lori Bass (Greg’s fiancé), Kelly Barasch and Doug Burchak for serving the meal to all of our guests. The afternoon was as good as the last 2 years, with great food, conversations, laughs and my favorite, reminiscing about the past. I thank everyone that took the microphone and said a few words about our history. The hard work and involvement from everyone from the day that our lodge was purchased to the present day. A lot of nice stories and facts were shared. Without that strong foundation, this club wouldn’t have been able to stand the test of time. It was with that work ethic and continued hard work and volunteering that this club functions today and will hopefully continue to strive for years and years ahead! Please keep supporting and be involved in your club. We are a club of volunteers that are needed to keep us going. Please do your part to contribute and to keep it moving in a positive direction!
Paesano Bocce Club:
It is mid-April and the smell of BOCCE is in the air! On Tuesday April 9th, we had our “Kick Off” bocce meeting for both existing and new members. We registered teams, took payment and went over new and old rules and changes. I was very happy to see about 55 people show up with excitement in their eyes. I am also extremely happy and proud to say that our league has now officially expanded to 4 FULL nights! Last year we did have 4 nights, but Wednesday and Thursdays didn’t have a full 8 teams each night. Now we do! Infect, the interest and want to play is so high that some of our nights may expand to 9 teams with a “bye” built in. We have extra teams and individuals that want to play this year and we will do our best to accommodate everyone. We don’t want to turn anyone away. Our tournament director and team coordinator, Brad Cotton, will do his best to make it happen. Special thanks go out to Mario Pompei, our President and the rest of our board for going out and stomping the pavement for new members, and boy do have quite a few joining. The word is out and the sport is catching on here in the Pacific Northwest. It’s a fantastic time to be involved! Speaking of involvement. The bocce club will hold our annual “Meet & Greet” event on Sunday May 19th at 9am. This will be a great opportunity for existing and new players to come out and meet each other. We will go through the rules and history of the game followed by a mini
tournament where we will team up experienced and new players to play against other teams. This will give our newest players the opportunity to learn from our veteran players. Come if you’re available and enjoy a few hours of bocce and comradery. We will provide a small lunch and you are welcome to bring your favorite adult beverages for your consumption if you’d like. The official start to our league nights is the 1st week of June. April also brought the 1st official tournament of the season in the Pacific Northwest. Our dear friends from the north had their season kick off tournament in Auburn, WA. A big group of Paesano’s from our bocce club went up to participate in it and to support our friends. It was two days of bocce filled with a lot of close and exciting matches. Saturday was a doubles tourney and Sunday was for teams. Both days had “A” and “B” divisions. I’m happy to say that my partner, Brad Cotton and I took 2nd in the “A” division of doubles along with John and Skylar Benagni taking 2nd in the “B” division. In team play on Sunday, our team including Benny Mititiero and myself took 3rd place in the “A” division. All and all it was a great bocce weekend. Thanks to all of the Paesano members that attended and helped our bocce brothers and sisters to the north. If you are still interested in playing or need to find out any information about our upcoming season or to donate to our “Raise the Roof” project, please go to our website at www.paesanobocceclub.com”. You can also speak to any of our board members. Mario Pompei, Doug Burchak, Kelly Barasch, Lori Bass or myself. Here’s to a great season!
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. Also, to our new members you can purchase at any time.
Thoughts and Prayers;
Thanks to all of you that came out to support my family in our Celebration of life ceremony this past Saturday for both of my in-laws, James and Geraldine Sells. It was a very nice ceremony, with a lot of great stories told of their kindness and what great people they were. I’m glad that you were all there to support and enjoy the day with us. Extra prayers for Jack Fazio, who is in the hospital and not doing very well. If you know Jack and his family, please reach out to them and give them your support, I’m sure that the family will appreciate it. Thoughts and prayers to Pete Rebagliati’s grandson as well. If you have anyone that you would like to add to our Thoughts & Prayers segment, please contact me and I will add them. May God bless all of our CP Members.
LaCarota Question:
Well, just when we thought the “King” was back and getting comfortable again, he gets knocked off his throne by long time contributor but spotty winner Johnny “The Gentleman” Benagni. John answers a lot of my questions, but Lady Luck hasn’t been very good to him, until now! Will there be a new run of victories for Johnny or will he be a “One hit wonder”? Come on John and the rest of you, keep at it so we can keep the “King” on his toes, and spread the wealth! Seeing I’m heading back to Canada, my question will be Canadian related. As most of you know, I was born in Canada to my parents that both immigrated from Italy. I moved to Portland in 1996 and have resided here ever since. So, my question is this. “Who is the other famous Italian/ Canadian celebrity that moved from Canada to Oregon, specifically Multnomah County and has made their home here too?” (One hint, this person came from the same province as my beloved NHL Hockey team) If you truly know me, then this question should be a no brainer! Loll! All correct answers given to me before our next Membership meeting will be entered into this month’s contest. You can’t win if you don’t play so Good Luck!
Final Thoughts:
As my family and friends celebrated the life of my In-laws, James and Geraldine this past weekend, I couldn’t help but sit back and really take some time to think about life. Our lives and how precious it is. Sometimes we can go through our days wrapped up in work, stressful situations and all the things that life throws at us on a regular basis. We get caught up in it all and tend to forget about our families, especially those who are older. I think that we get comfortable and we feel that tomorrow will be another day and that our family members and friends will be around forever, but as it struck me this weekend, they won’t be. As you all know, we need to enjoy our time with each other and celebrate every waking moment we have with them. Visit them often. Laugh and love often. I don’t have to remind any of you, but life is truly short, so take in every bit of it and love the ones you’re with! Here is to you and all of our Famiglia’s including our Club Paesano Family. May we enjoy and cherish every moment with them! Take care of yourselves and ti Saluto!
Cheers,
Rick