June 2024 LaCarota
President’s message:
Ciao e benvenuto a tutti i soci del nostro Club Paesano! As always, I hope that this edition of “LaCarota” finds you all healthy, happy and safe! I hope that you are all out and enjoying this fantastic weather. Some sun, heat, a cool down and then some rain. This is our Springtime in the Pacific Northwest. 60 degrees to 80 in the matter of days. I guess that is what makes the PNW a special place. Personally, I will tell you that it’s a lot better than freezing cold and snow! I got to travel back home, to visit my folks and the rest of my family. I am very happy to report that everyone and everything is great back there. My famiglia is doing great. Mom, Dad and siblings are feeling and looking fantastic. Must be that good Italian bloodline! I was fortunate enough to visit my old Italian club, which was having its annual Member’s Banquet. Many of my family and friends are still members. There were 1200 members and guests in attendance. It was fantastic to see! I ran into family relatives and friends that I haven’t seen in quite a few years. It was like I never left! It was proof that our Italian Heritage is alive and well, no matter where you go in North America and beyond. It was a fantastic trip and I’m so glad that I finally got back home, where I grew up, and got to experience all of its goodness, once again! It was a terrific trip down memory lane and as I said, a good feeling that our Italian heritage in North America is doing just fine! If any of you would like to check out the club that I had the privilege of being a member of for a long time, go to www.ciociaroclub.com I pretty much grew up there. Established in 1975. The same year that Club Paesano purchased the building that we now know as Cedarville Lodge & Park.
Spring Dance:
On Saturday May 11th, we had our Spring Dance. The food was fantastic as usual. Of course, we had a good band that played and got our guests out on the dance floor with some energy. Our Charity was small but did the best they could to bring in guests and raise some money for their cause. The problem that we had unfortunately, was the lack of guests, about 115 total. That my friends was a huge disappointment especially after our Halloween and Carnevale dances. As a matter of fact, this was our 1st event in a long, long time that we actually lost money. I realize that it wasn’t the perfect weekend to have it, but I don’t think that it should have stopped most of our members from attending! The very thing that we were lacking, was our members and their guests. The board and I did everything that we could to promote and sell tickets. I’m not sure of what else we could have done. As I have said over and over, whether it be at our meetings or on this newsletter, we really need our active members to step up, attend and get the word out. Sell tickets and bring guests! That is all I can say. I’m hoping that this is our “Mulligan” for the year and that our next event, “The Concert in the Park” on Saturday August 10th, will be a huge success. Do what you can to make our Concert something that folks will want to attend every year!
Polenta Dinner & 1st CP Scholarship Presentation:
On Wednesday June 5th, in lieu of our regular Club Paesano Membership meeting, we will be hosting our “All Italian” Polenta Dinner and our very 1st CP Scholarship presentation. This is an event that is open to all Italians. Whether you belong to another Italian club or are just of Italian heritage looking for a fantastic Italian polenta dinner like Nonna used to make at her weekly Sunday dinner and looking to meet some of your Italian countrymen, you are invited. For the last 9 years, Club Paesano has been hosting this wonderful event. With the help of all the other clubs, we have put this party together, and it’s always been a success. As a CP Member, please feel free to invite your Italian family and friends, whether they are members or not. As I said, this dinner is open to all Italians! Just like dinner at your Nonna’s house on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we do expect a little work out of you. You can’t eat unless you earn it! LoL! By helping out, we mean, coming in to help set up the lodge, set the tables, help in the kitchen, help serve and help clean up.” Many hands lighten the load”. Like Nonna’s house, everyone has a small task that they are responsible for. Depending on your schedule, we have our different jobs. From 4pm to 6:30pm; “Set up” & Kitchen Help”. 7pm, some volunteers to help serve. After that it will be volunteers to help clean up and do dishes. It’s not all work though. Between all of that, we have comradery, a great dinner, a lot of laughs and stories along with a glass of wine. Speaking of wine, we encourage you to bring your favorite bottle of wine or 4 to drink and share with your fellow members and guests. Soft Drinks and water will be provided free of charge. This event is free for all attendees. All I ask for is a rough headcount so we know how much polenta to make and we also need about 5 volunteers to make roasts to go into the sauce which will accompany the polenta. Beef, pork or chicken will be great. If you can volunteer to make a roast, please let me know. If we already have enough volunteers, I will let you know so you don’t make one for nothing, but being Italian, no food ever goes to waste!! This is always a fun event, so please join us if you can! Remember to “RSVP”.
We will also be handing out our 1st ever Club Paesano Scholarships to our 3 deserving candidates after our dinner. Join us in congratulating them in their continued education.
Fun Committee:
Well, our Monday Night Social has come to a successful end as of this past Monday. It was a great season and we will resume again on Monday September 9th. The 1st Monday after Labor Day. We had a fantastic time. There were some terrific meals served up and enjoyed along with all of our CP family FUN! All of the regulars that show up every Monday have formed a family bond and we’ve learned to really enjoy each other’s company. That being said, we always encourage more members to come and enjoy themselves. Come and enjoy your fellow members. You don’t have to make it every Monday night, and this isn’t an event that you “Must” attend. It’s out there for any member that just wants to come out and enjoy time with other members, forming bonds and strong friendships! If you haven’t been to one, or if you haven’t been to one in a long time, I encourage you to stop by next September and see what you think.
The “Fun Committee” is still working on some summer time events. Whether at the club or outside of the club, we are working on it and will let you know as soon as we have a plan. Come out and get to know your club and its members!
Concert in the Park:
On Saturday August 10th, we will have our annual “Concert in the Park”. No time like the present to start planning to come. Invite your families, friends and anyone that likes to have fun! Let’s do our best to make this a hit! There will be more details in next month’s newsletter. Please make plans to attend and make it Great!
Paesano Bocce Club:
Last Sunday we hosted our annual bocce “Meet & Greet” tournament. We had over 40 people sign up with a mix of newer players and experienced players! It was a great day and shows how popular our sport is becoming!
Our Bocce club is within days of starting our 2024 Bocce season! We have grown so much that we needed to start our Tuesday thru Thursday night leagues a week early. Our new official start will be Tuesday May 28th, a week earlier than last year. This is a great problem to have! Our league has expanded to 140 members. We are up at least 30 members from last year. This just goes to show how popular our beloved sport is becoming and it also shows the hard work and tenacity of our board and our members. Everyone is going out and inviting friends and acquaintances to come out and roll. Once they get out on our “World Class” courts and roll a few games, they usually get hooked to the sport and want to play again. It’s a beautiful game that anyone can play. Our fantastic courts just got better looking with the addition of our beautiful fence that we’ve just installed around the north side of the courts facing the Springwater trail. It looks fantastic and is a great way to advertise your business! Special thanks go out to our Court Supervisor, Doug Burchak for planning it out and getting it installed. I’d also like to thank Mario Pompei, Danny Taylor, Carmen Willis and Mike Merrigan for helping him out. If you haven’t been out to our courts or would like more information about the sport, how to join, sponsor, donate or rent, please contact one of our board members, or go to our website at www.paesanobocceclub.com . I am so proud and happy to be a part of this. Our board and members continue to work hard and our next endeavor is to cover these beautiful courts with a roof! To build this roof, we will be working to raise funds to put towards it. Speaking of raising money, I am so happy to announce that the “Paesano Bocce Club” has now become a “501-C 3” Non-Profit, which means that we can accept donations, material, labor etc. and our donors will be able to get a tax write off. If you have any one of these things that you can donate, please see one of our board members for more information and a receipt for your taxes. This is a huge move towards obtaining the roof and also expanding our sport and our Bocce Family! Thank you so much Paul Barasch for making it a reality! You went out and made it happen. It’s something that we needed! Please go to our website and check out what we have to offer. Bocce Signs for advertisement, pavers and bocce “swag”. Any profits that we make on that goes directly into our “Cover the Courts” fund. I really think that we are on our way to putting Paesano Bocce on the “Big Stage” and getting us recognized in the sport of bocce. Big Props go out to our Board of Directors for putting their heads together and working so hard to make our club a success. If you are a bocce member, and see these people, remember to give them some love for all of their hard work. President; Mario Pompei / VP-Treasurer; Rick Cervi; Competition Chair; Brad Cotton / Court Maintenance & Supervisor; Doug Burchak; League & Tournament Coordinator; Kelly Barasch; Events, Donations, & Information Chairs; Carol Neilson and Lori Bass / Consiglio; Larry Cereghino. A huge round of applause! Even though our summer leagues are filled, you can still play on our “Fall League” coming up in September and if you are interested, you can always ask one of our board members to meet you at the courts to learn the game and play a few games. Anyone of us would be happy to meet you and introduce you to the sport. You just may become a regular once you get hooked! Here’s to a great season!
Thoughts & Prayers:
Our thoughts and prayers go out to our Club Paesano members and families! Let us always keep our CP Members in our thoughts and prayers too. I would also like to pass on an invitation from Susan Manicosy. She is the daughter of long-time member Wilbur Manicosy. Wilbur passed away a while ago, but Susan and her family are going to have a “Celebration of Life” get together for him on Sunday June 16th at “The home of Club Paesano”, Cedarville Lodge & Park. The celebration will go from 1pm till 6pm. Susan and her family have graciously invited all Club Paesano members to her dad’s celebration of life. Whether you knew Wilbur or not, please feel free to join all of his family and friends. Susan would like to get an “RSVP” from our members who will be attending so she can purchase the right amount of food. If you plan to attend, please let me know and I will pass the guest list to her. Thank you, Susan! If you have anyone that is in need of some extra prayers, please let me know and I will add them to our newsletter.
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.
Gresham Chamber of Commerce / Charity Events:
Club Paesano went to the Chamber of Commerce “Spring Expo”. They let us set up a table along with other chamber members to let everyone see who we are and what we do here at the club. We answered a lot of questions and advertised not only CP, but Paesano Bocce Club and Cedarville Lodge for rentals. We thought that we’d give everyone a treat, so we made tortellini and fresh focaccia bread and handed out samples. Everyone loved it and raved about how good it was! Thank you to our VP, Jimmy Calcagno and Mario Pompei for joining and helping me with that! Last Sunday, CP hosted the “Pink Sista’s” 1st Half Marathon. We allowed them to stage at the club as they were using the “Springwater trail”. They invited breast cancer survivors to run, jog or walk in it. They had over 90 participants, and were able to raise $4000 that will go to their cause. This was truly a proud moment for Club Paesano. Our relationship with Deb Hart and the “Pink Sista’s” continues to grow. They are terrific people to be friends with!
LaCarota Question:
It looks like our “Wine King” is here to stay and he means business again, especially if he has scared all of you so much that you now refuse to answer my LaCarota questions anymore. Do you now think that Mario “The Mauler” Pompei, will automatically win our coveted bottle of CP Vino? In last month’s question, Mario was the only one to answer and answered correctly too! Mario’s persistent barrage of answers must have left you in a daze and some of you may be putting up the white flag and just giving up! Should I just present the “Wine King” with the next 7 bottles of wine?? Are you all just saying “No Mas”? Naa, I don’t think so. I know that you all were just distracted by the “Solar Eclipse” and all the other phenomenal events going on around the world. Here is your chance to get back into the ring with our Champ. Mario is looking for another “Chump” to crush. Don’t be that person! I’m going to make this easy for our next “Up and Comer” to give the Champ a challenge! Seeing that we are having our “Polenta Dinner” this month, I am asking you to give me your favorite Polenta Recipe: I will pick a random winner just for entering the recipe. I love polenta and feel that there are several terrific dishes out there. That’s it, pretty simple. If you want a chance at the crown, then send me a recipe. All answers will be entered to win. Let’s see if someone can knock the King off his throne!
Final Thoughts:
As I told you all, I had the chance to go home and visit my parents, family and friends recently. It had been a while since I had been back to Canada and visited with a lot of my close family and friends. I’ve been meeting my folks in Italy, so I haven’t been back there in a while. It actually made me see how much I truly missed it. It was so refreshing, and in ways felt like I never left. While I was there, I had the opportunity to go back to my old club for its “Members Banquet”. I have to say, it was beautiful! “The Ciociaro Club of Windsor”. It’s a huge club. Please look them up on Google. The club was built in 1975, (Sounds Familiar) I practically grew up there. My parents were part of the original members and along with so many member’s children, we all spent endless days there. Playing, working and eventually becoming members and working pieces in what is a great club today! At this Member’s Banquet, I ran into some of my family and friends, along with their kids. They were all still solid staples of our club. I guess if I hadn’t left, I would still be an active member there too. At this Banquet, there were 1200 guests! Members with family. 1200 PEOPLE! My CP Members, it was amazing! I wish that you all could have been there to experience it. I know that our club, Club Paesano, was once filled with our members and guests too. I hear the stories from our senior members of the Italian Picnics and how big they used to be. I realize that times have changed and family dynamics have changed too, but if my old club is still steaming ahead with members, I ask you, why can’t we still do the same? I’ve been told several times, “Rick, we are not back east”, “Rick, we are not in Canada, it’s different back there”. “The Italian population and density are way bigger back there”! You know something, I don’t buy that. I agree that the Italian population isn’t as big in Portland, but I believe that we have enough Italians here to have a bigger and more active membership. I don’t expect 1200 people, but if we scaled it down to what we have here, I see no reason why we couldn’t have a solid 200 guests at every one of our events. I’ve said it a million times, “We are the only Italian Club in the area with a place to call home”. Cedarville Lodge & Park. We have property and it’s a beautiful site with bocce courts and a terrific atmosphere. No other “Club” in this area has what we have! We are a social club that operates with volunteers. Our members volunteer their time to better this club. Not only that, but you have a place to meet and to call your own. It’s a place to meet your fellow members, get to know them, invite your friends, and have a great time. Please, please don’t let this opportunity slip away. This club is nothing without each and every one of you. It’s not only that we need you, but you need to enjoy yourselves and what the club has to offer you. Like all things, there is room for changes and there is plenty of room for growth. We can change our events and evolve with the times. In order to do this, we need everyone’s help and input. Nothing is written in stone, and changes are welcome, but you need to be involved to make things happen! Keep in mind why you joined this club, and what you can do to keep it relevant, fun and most important, alive! I love this club along with you, our members. Let’s do everything we can to keep our tradition and our heritage going! This is your club!
Thank you and te Salute!
Rick