February 2025 LaCarota
President’s Message:
Ciao a tutti, Happy New Year!! Here’s to a very prosperous 2025. As always, I hope that you all find yourselves, happy, healthy and safe! What a year it has been so far. We have a new President and administration. Things are starting to roll already. Hopefully good things will happen. Well Winter is finally here, and we are feeling the effects of old Mother Nature. The mornings have been so cold! I hope that you all got the chance to bring your favorite plants in and covered your water spigots. You definitely don’t need any bursting pipes! I complain, but I just spoke to my mother back in Canada tonight, and she says the nights have been below zero. No thank you, I’ll just keep what we have here in Oregon. Has anyone kept up with their New Year’s resolutions? Has anybody quit already? How many didn’t start one at all? Oh well, they are what they are, and the most important thing is to enjoy your life. It’s way too short as they say, so live it up and have a great time doing it!
The Big Game Watch Party:
On Sunday February 9th, we will have our annual NFL Football Championship watch party. This has always been a fan favorite and I can honestly say, it’s the best deal around! We’ll offer our traditional, “All you can eat” buffet with all of the favs. 3 HD Big screen T. V’S, so that every seat in the house is a good one and unobstructed, with a great sound system so that you can actually hear the game and the halftime show too. We’ll offer side bets, squares, and your typical watch party wagers. Of course we will offer you our “No Host” bar, with some of the cheapest prices around. We’ll even allow you to bring in your most favorite and comfortable chair if you would like. (Rubber feet or wheels only). All this for the low, low price of $15 Adults / $10 Adolescents 6yrs to 12 yrs of age/ and children 5 and under are FREE! Why make a mess at home? Bring your families and friends and we’ll do all the hard work for you. Just sit back and enjoy the game. This event is open to the public, so tell everyone that loves to watch the game, and even if they don’t, they can eat a great meal, inexpensively, and maybe win some money on a wager. Our doors will open at 12:30pm and the party will go on till the last person leaves. Tickets can be purchased at the door. (Not on our website).
I will be at the club by 10am to set up the hall and could use some help, so if you are coming and can get there a bit earlier, I would appreciate that. Thank you, and we hope to see you all there!
Carnevale Dance:
On Saturday March 1st, we will have our “Carnevale Dance”. This year we not only have a new Charity partner, but we will be going with a new form of entertainment too. Our charity partner is,” Creation for Cures”. They are a local charity based in Gresham. Their mission is to donate art supplies and to teach children to do art while the children are going through cancer treatment. What a cause! When I met with their CEO, Renee, she explained it all to me and she formed this charity, because she is a cancer survivor herself and art was what got her through everything. What a blessing she is for those kids. A true Angel! I will have her in as a guest speaker at our next Membership meeting. I really want you all to meet her. Along with other factors, this should be a special reason for all of you to come out and support the children! They’ll be having a raffle / Silent auction to raise funds for their cause! Let everyone know. Share it on your social media, pass out fliers and talk to everyone you know. Let’s make this a very special event for not only us but “Creations for Cures”! The other different thing that we will be trying at this dance, will be our entertainment. We will be trying out a DJ Service. This company works in the entertainment field and are veterans at what they do! They can play it all, which will be a change for us. They will be taking requests, and we’ve already told them that we would like to hear some Italian music as well. They said, “No problem”. This will give some of our senior members a chance to get up and enjoy the entertainment. Perhaps dancing to a waltz, polka, or even the “Chicken Dance”. An all-time classic! LoL! Sinatra, Martin, Como, anything you want them to play, they will do their best. In fact, if you have any special requests, perhaps a hard-to-find melody, please let me know, so I can relay the info to them before the dance. They asked us to tell them in advance, so they could find what we are asking for.
This will be a great dance with a terrific cause. Tickets are now available on our website. Please go to www.clubpaesano.org to purchase your favorite table before they are all gone. Hope to see you all there.
Club Paesano Scholarship Fund:
On Sunday March 16th, we will be having our Inaugural Club Paesano Scholarship Fundraising Dinner.
Last year we combined it with our Heritage Dinner. This year, it will be on its own. A special day to come together. Socialize, eat, drink and support this wonderful cause. Our very own CP Scholarship! It’s a great feeling to know that we are supporting our youth and their academic futures and dreams! As we know, going to university, college, or a trade school is difficult enough, but gathering the funds to do it can be even harder for our kiddo’s. Having the financials to pay for it all, obviously is a must. This will be a great opportunity for you to come out and support our future. Future Doctors, lawyers, accountants, electricians, musicians, etc. They will all need our help! We are still in GREAT NEED, of items that we can add to our Silent auction / raffle. Anything that you can donate will be helpful and appreciated. Vacation homes, experiences, such as a trip, skiing, boating, Sporting team, game tickets. (Blazers, Timbers, Thornes, Mariners, etc.). Tools, and work equipment. Sporting goods. Automotive supplies. Food items like olive oil, vinegar, pasta, sauces, charcuterie. We’ll need baskets or items to place in the baskets. Gift cards, wine bottles or liquor bottles. Etc, etc. I know that a lot of you have been to fund raisers and know the routine. We are counting on having a good turnout and we would like to have many items to bid on. This will be a pasta feed with salad and rolls. You can eat in with all of us and we’ll also be offering “Take out” as well. So, you can bring the pasta goodness home to feed the family or eat the next day. Our doors will open at 3pm and we will go till 7pm, so you can come any time before 7pm. We will be serving food till then. We will also be writing your name on the raffle tickets and taking phone numbers for our silent auction, so if you can’t stay till the end and you win something, we will call you and get it to you. The cost is $25 per adult and children from 6yrs to 12 yrs will be $15. Kids 5 yrs and under will be free. Tickets will be available at the door only. Please come to support this worthy cause and if you can, please help us to procure raffle and auction items. Of course, we will always take cash donations too! The Scholarship application will be on our website very soon. I will let you all know as soon as it goes live. Just like last year, our scholarship committee will review all of the candidates and choose the best 3 to give our scholarships to.
The scholarships will be presented to our chosen students, at our Polenta Dinner on Wednesday, June 4th. Please support our future!
Thoughts & Prayers:
This month’s thoughts and prayers go out to my father’s 1st cousin from Michigan. Her name was Juliet Bastianelli. She unfortunately passed away a few days ago at 93 yrs old. She was always a “Zia” to me and my sisters. My dad and her grew up right next door to each other in Italy and both immigrated to North America at the same time. Her family went to Detroit Michigan, and my dad went to Windsor, Ontario Canada, just across the river. Our families were always so close and we did so much together. All of the terrific memories that I have. She will be truly missed, but she will be in heaven with her husband, Romeo, once again. Yes, it was truly “Romeo & Juliet”. Thoughts & prayers go out to all of us CP members and all of our families both near and far. Also, prayers to our club member Doug Burchak who lost his day two weeks ago! May God bless us all and keep us protected. May God also protect and guide our new President and his administration. If you would like me to add anyone to this segment, please reach out to me and let me know before the end of the month and I will add them.
Activating Paesano’s:
I’m writing this segment to do just as the title says, “Activate Paesano’s”. What is this about you ask? Well, let me tell you. As you all know, Club Paesano is an Italian / American social club and a non- profit as well. All of the work that has been done in this club, whether it’s physical work, volunteering or to do things with our club, such as being on a committee, doing clerical or promoting events, cooking, helping behind the bar, coming up with ideas, etc. it’s all done by our members. Without all of our members’ help both in the past, present and future our club would have probably dissolved years ago. Most everything is done by our membership volunteers!
That being said, I would like to reach out to all of you, whether you’ve been here 70yrs or you just started. We are all Paesano’s. We have some of our members that have been carrying the brunt of the load for a long time. We know who those members are and I thank each and every one of you. I also know and understand that some of our older members cannot do what they used to in the past, and you know what, they deserve a pass and to be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’ve heard many stories of all the hard work that it took to get this club off the ground and to get it to where it is now. To all of our active members, I ask you to look at what you can do for the benefit of our club. If you have a special talent, or you are a certified tradesman. Maybe you are great on the computer, and you know the ins and outs of social media. Perhaps you would like to sit on a committee like we made for our scholarship. We are always in need of a “Dance” Committee. People that can come together to put a dance on. Hire the band, get a charity and advertise. We need different ideas for our events. Let’s change them up a bit. We can try a “Country Western” themed dance. We are all open for a change and I am open to new ideas! We need help folks! I became President for another year, to help with a transition, and to motivate and activate our members, to take over some day. As I’ve said a million and one times, we love what we are doing, but some help and the sense of togetherness would help a lot too. I said it at our last meeting, don’t be surprised if I tap you on the shoulder and ask you if you can be on a committee or to run a certain project. Honestly, I’d much rather have you come to me and let me know. There is plenty to do and. I don’t want the people we have to get “Burned out” either. I’ve spoken to a lot of you and a lot of you have some great ideas. I’d love nothing better than to have you see it through, whether with some help or without. Please don’t come to me or the board with an idea or something that you’d like to see done, then just walk away from it, for us to do. Trust me, my board and myself have plenty on our plates, but with your help or your willingness to take the lead or “Champion” something would be terrific. Maybe writing is your strength. Let’s get some of you involved with this newsletter. Maybe you would like to add a segment for us to read. It doesn’t have to be long; a couple of paragraphs would do. Maybe you would like to come up with the “LaCarota” question. Deb Guthrie has done a fantastic job in adding some great tidbits to the newsletter. Information and facts about Italy and our Italian culture. That’s perfect! You could add your favorite recipe, what’s going on throughout PDX and the Italian communities. Some of you are more connected to that, and the information would be great for us Paesanos to know. After 49 issues of the “LaCarota” and 10 more to go, the well is starting to run dry! LoL! I can still come up with information, but some fresh takes would be nice too. So please, don’t be shy, come and talk to me so I can get you on board with whatever you can offer your club. Thank you!
Cedarville Park Shares:
Need a good reason to purchase Cedarville Shares? Get Astronomical savings on Park Rentals and save Thousands!
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.
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.
Columbus Day Dinner & Comedy Show:
I’m happy to say that after a long layoff, our Columbus Day Dinner will be coming back this year, and will be hosted by Club Paesano. We will be inviting all of the other Italian clubs and Italians as in the past, plus it will also be open to the public. The date will be Saturday October 11th, so please mark it on your calendar. This will be a formal affair including a 4 course “Sit down” dinner followed by a comedy show by “The Uncle Louie Variety Show”. These guys are from New Jersey and have toured all over the USA and Canada. They will have you in stitches for sure. If you haven’t seen them yet, Google them, they’ll crack you up!
This event is being chaired by Joe Castellano and Anna Nassib. They are starting to form a committee so if you would like to be a part of it and give them a hand, please get a hold of them and let them know that you’d like to help. More information will be given in the upcoming months.
LaCarota Question:
Well now. Just when we thought that he was down and out, not able to win another bottle of our coveted Vino, “The Comeback Kid” from Rhode Island proved us wrong. Mario “The Mauler” Pompei took another swing and came down with the Holy Grail, and even the bottle of his liking! The man is back to his winning ways. Will 2025 be his year? Can he sweep the whole year? (A far cry, but he can only hope!) Will there be another veteran like Jim Burch, making a run or will it be one of our newbies getting their name in print and becoming famous. We will see! With our upcoming Columbus dinner and comedy show, my question is this. Please give me the names of your favorite Italian comedians and why they are your favorites. That’s it, pretty simple!
All answers will be entered to win this month’s prize. Good Luck!
Paesano Bocce News:
There’s not much to report as far as bocce play goes, but as most of you know, Paesano Bocce Club is now an official 501-C3. This means that any donations that we receive can be written off on your taxes. We are always open to monetary donations. As we get closer to the construction of our new roof, such things as building materials, labor and advertisement can be written off too. We will be happy to give you a receipt to give to your tax person. As always, if you are interested in joining our league nights, please see one of our board members or go on to our website at www.paesanobocce.com It doesn’t matter if you’ve played before or you’re a rookie, we have a skill set to match your play. Come with a team or by yourself as we will find you a team. It’s a fun time and a way to get to know other people and some of your fellow Club Paesano members as well. We have several CP Members that are currently playing. Come out and enjoy while learning a new sport, who knows, you just may get the “Bocce Bug”!
Final Thoughts:
Well, I think that I just about covered all of my thoughts in the rest of this newsletter. Let us try to see the good in new ideas and changes and not just the bad. Seeing eye to eye and agreeing to agree, or disagree is always good too. The more this world gets along, the easier things will be! Also, as I said earlier, please step up when you can to help out our club and your fellow members. I know that there are a lot of you out there with some great talents and skills that our club could desperately use. Please help out and do your part when you can. Here is to our club, its members, past, present and future and to another 70 great years to come. Let’s make 2025 a year of celebrations for all of us. Eccoci a 100 anni. Ti Saluto.
Rick