President’s Message Rick Cervi
As always, I hope that this edition of “LaCarota” finds you all, “Happy, healthy and safe”. I don’t know about you guys, but does it seem like this summer has just flown by? I feel like July had just started with the big holiday, some special birthdays and events, then the next thing you know, we are in the 3rd week of August. Not quite sure why, but it seems like time keeps speeding up? Another good reason to stop and smell the roses. Take time out for yourself and your family. Take vacation and time to relax. Recharge and enjoy what we have been given. Whether it’s being with family, by yourself, enjoying a new item that you always wanted, or just finding your inner peace, please enjoy and cherish it all! Let’s get on with the newsletter.
Bocce News: this year! It’s been one of our best. Our league nights came to an end with a Championship Sunday. The day included the playoffs of each night, with a champion of each night crowned. We had 4 nights going this year and hope to expand it to 5 nights next season. The day was capped off with a potluck, and we all enjoyed terrific dishes that our players made and shared. What a terrific group. Full of energy, enthusiasm and a certain level of competitiveness. There was a great mixture of all, but the most important part, was the smiles, the laughter and the fun that our players showed throughout the season. Bravo! But wait, there’s more! We can’t end it just yet. Our players want more and have demanded it and because our bocce board aims to please, we are again going to be offering our “Fall League” starting this Sunday, August 28th at 9am. We will be playing an “El Sacco” style play. In this format of play, everyone’s name will be thrown in a hat (divided evenly by skill level), and you will end up playing with 3 different players every week. It’ll be the luck of the draw. Points will be tracked on an individual basis, giving you points per win. You will play 3 games to 12, then be given the chance to shoot, or hard lag 4 times to accumulate even more points. At the end of the season, the player who tallied the most individual points, will be crowned the champ! The season will run until “Mother Nature” says it’s over, so weather is going to determine the length of the season. The cost to play will be $25 dollars for existing members, and newcomers as well. Hopefully this will draw new players to join next season too. So, if you are an existing member that would like to extend their season, or a newbie that would like to check it out and learn the game, come on out, we will take care of you. Balls and scoreboards provided, but you can bring your own bocce balls if you have them, too. Again, much thanks to our Board of Bocce for all of their extra hard work and making this season a successful one, both mentally and physically. Mario Pompei, Larry Cereghino, Brad Cotton, Doug Burchak, Dino Gavazza, and myself, Rick Cervi. We are always trying to raise money for a roof to cover our 4 beautiful courts. We are selling, “Personal and Business” advertising signs, personalized pavers, and merchandise. We will always except a monetary donation as well. If you have any ideas for fundraising, have your own business, or work for a company that would like to donate to the cause, please let us know.
Concert in the Park: We just enjoyed another “Concert in the Park”. Our 6th Annual now. We had roughly 330 attendees. Not bad considering all the other events happening throughout the city on a Saturday night in August. People are wanting to get out and socialize once again and it looks like we are pretty much there. The event started at 4pm, and ran till Midnight, with the band stopping at 10pm. In typical Italian fashion, a lot of us stayed and partied till the end. Thank you to all of our Club Paesano members that showed up to the event. I want to pass along my deepest thanks to all of you that stepped up to help set up, cook and to make sure that everyone felt welcomed; to those that worked during the event, and those that tore down and cleaned up. To Geno and John Benagni, for helping us with our technical difficulties and making sure that our POS kept running. As always, special props go out to Marc Battilega and family for reliably manning the kitchen and food. These events don’t just run themselves and can’t be successful without hard work and contributions by all of you!
Festa Italiana: What a busy month! On Sunday August 21st, Cedarville Park & Club Paesano hosted the Festa Italiana. This was our 2nd year hosting and providing the Festa a good venue. Special thanks to Cedarville Park for making our beautiful setting available. It was a fantastic day of Italian celebration with great food, drink, music, dancing and fun! All were welcome to come to this event. We also had our Paesano Bocce Club running its annual “Festa Bocce Tournament.” A lot going on that day. You couldn’t have asked for better weather! It wasn’t official, but I was told that we could have had as many as 500 people through the gates. Wow, that’s a huge jump from last year! Hope it helps to energize the Festa. No one, including myself, wants to see it go away. We’re Italian and need our own Italian Party! Thanks once again to all the Paesanos and their wives, who volunteered.
Club Paesano’s Membership appreciation BBQ: Our CP Member’s BBQ will be held on Sunday September 11th at noon. This BBQ is to show appreciation to our members and all the extra hard work that they have put into our club. Coming to meetings, setting up, tearing down and clean up. To the members that volunteer their time and efforts for the greater cause and that make this Club run like a well-oiled machine. Please come out and enjoy a nice lunch and some laughs with your fellow CP members. A great chance for our newer members to get to know and speak with some of our older members too. This BBQ is for our members in good standing, their spouse, partner or a guest and is for adults only. Weather permitting, it will be held outside under the Pavilion. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, it will be moved indoors.
Halloween Dance: Our next big event! Doors open at 5:30pm and the party will go until 11pm. Tickets are now available and can be purchased on our website at www.clubpaesano.org . I have a feeling that this dance may be a sellout, so I would recommend getting your tickets early if you plan to attend. Our charity partner, “Pink Sista’s” founder Deb Hart, is already promoting and selling tickets. She founded her charity years ago after surviving breast cancer. The “Pink Sista’s” was created to give survivors of breast cancer an avenue to have some fun and to be active. They offer weekend retreats, boating, paddle boarding, floating the river, etc. All this being offered to survivors at no cost. What an incredible charity, and a wonderful lady, Deb Hart. I got to know Deb better this summer, as she also played and created a “Pink Sista’s” bocce team. October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month, so I believe that we will see a lot of support. The cost is $25 per person, which includes our spaghetti & meatball dinner and live music and dancing from the “Design Band”. Bring your family and friends. Please promote and spread the word. No time like the present to purchase your tickets. As always costumes are not mandatory but encouraged. Get your tickets while you can!
Cedarville Shares: If you are interested in owning a piece of this beautiful Lodge and Park property, please contact Steve Petruzelli at [email protected] or 503-620- 3447 to purchase Cedarville Shares. Property located at 3800 W Powell Loop, Gresham, OR 97030. Cedarville Share.
Cedarville Lodge is available for rent: 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.
Fun Committee: The Fun Committee had our “Night Out” Saturday August 13th. It was held at “Kuya’s Islander Cuisine” in Gresham. Fred Asa, the owner of the restaurant and his staff prepared a wonderful buffet for us, featuring Filipino and Hawaiian foods. If you have never been to his restaurant, I highly recommend trying it out. It was a wonderful evening of good fun and laughs, fantastic food and some great wine. There were about 32 of us all together that showed up to enjoy the night. Hopefully the Fun Committee will put together another outing sometime in the fall. There is no limit to how many get together we can do, the size of the group, or what we can plan. Big, small, dining, wine tasting, hiking, music, it doesn’t matter. If you have an idea or a plan that you would like to see happen, or would like to champion, by all means, bring it to the table. The Fun Committee is here to help run it, or you can take the bull by the horns and run it yourself. It doesn’t matter. The whole purpose and goal of the Fun Committee is to HAVE FUN! Just let me, or one of the other FC events coordinators know. We will be starting up our “Monday Night Socials” again Monday September 12th, after the Labor Day holiday. If you haven’t been to one, it’s a great way to get to know and spend some time with your fellow CP members. We talk, laugh, watch football, (or whatever else anyone wants to watch), eat, drink and play some games. Members step up and volunteer to make food for one of the evenings, and we offer a cheap bar. The food has been fantastic and we all chip in doing something. What a great night of comradery. It’s not mandatory as a member to attend, but I strongly recommend trying to come when you can. Starting on the 1st Monday in October, and every 1st Monday of the month moving forward, we will allow a member to bring one “Nonmember” to our Monday night—possibly a potential member down the road, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be someone who you enjoy being around and hopefully will enjoy your fellow CP members too.
New Membership: We are at that time of the year where you should be getting applications for new members filled out and handed in. If you have someone in mind that you would like to see become a member or would like to sponsor them, applications need to be handed in no later than October’s general members’ meeting. We are looking for energetic people, who will represent the club and will be proud to be a part of us. We want to make sure that they are a good fit for us, and that we are a good fit for them as well. Bring them out to our events, have them volunteer and if they like what they see, then get them a sponsor and have them fill out an application. We need “Active” members! I don’t want to have someone join, then never show up. We are not looking and don’t need people like that. If you do have someone in mind, please make sure that they fully understand this. Our members should be proud of being a CP member, want to have fun and a social time, but also be willing to put in a little work every now and again. If you have any questions, or need to speak to me about it, please email or call me anytime
Rossi Farms: On Sunday August 7th, Joe Rossi invited us all to celebrate our Italian culture and heritage by hosting their “D’Italiano Celebration”. It was held at his house, the original one where his dad Aldo Rossi (our First President) held the very 1st Club Paesano board meeting—and the many following that. Joe was gracious enough to not only host the event, but hosted food and beverages for our Club Paesano members. The food, Italian beer and wine were available all The Fun Committee had our “Night Out” Saturday August 13th. It was held at “Kuya’s Islander Cuisine” in Gresham. Fred Asa, the owner of the restaurant and his staff prepared a wonderful buffet for us, featuring Filipino and Hawaiian foods. If you have never been to his restaurant, I highly recommend trying it out. It was a wonderful evening of good fun and laughs, fantastic food and some great wine. There were about 32 of us all together that showed up to enjoy the night. Hopefully the Fun Committee will put together another outing sometime in the fall. There is no limit to how many get together we can do, the size of the group, or what we can plan. Big, small, dining, wine tasting, hiking, music, it doesn’t matter. If you have an idea or a plan that you would like to see happen, or would like to champion, by all means, bring it to the table. The Fun Committee is here to help run it, or you can take the bull by the horns and run it yourself. It doesn’t matter. The whole purpose and goal of the Fun Committee is to HAVE FUN! Just let me, or one of the other FC events coordinators know. We will be starting up our “Monday Night Socials” again Monday September 12th, after the Labor Day holiday. If you haven’t been to one, it’s a great way to get to know and spend some time with your fellow CP members. We talk, laugh, watch football, (or whatever else anyone wants to watch), eat, drink and play some games. Members step up and volunteer to make food for one of the evenings, and we offer a cheap bar. The food has been fantastic and we all chip in doing something. What a great night of comradery. It’s not mandatory as a member to attend, but I strongly recommend trying to come when you can. Starting on the 1st Monday in October, and every 1st Monday of the month moving forward, we will allow a member to bring one “Nonmember” to our Monday night—possibly a potential member down the road, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be someone who you enjoy being around and hopefully will enjoy your fellow CP members too. Like I said, it’s not mandatory, but I hope to see some of you there. evening. He invited in an accordion band for our listening and dancing entertainment. Joe showed us around the house where the meetings were held, and how he has been restoring the house to its original form from when his dad, Aldo, was around. It was a treat to take a “CP” group picture on the original bench where the initial members sat in 1955. What a great night. Special thanks to our own Greg DiMiestri and his brother in-law Dennis Grieng, for preparing and cooking all the great food that we had that night. If you couldn’t make it, I strongly recommend coming next year, should Joe decide on making it a yearly event. Joe Rossi, I personally thank you, and Club Paesano thanks you too!
Thoughts and Prayers: This month’s Thoughts & Prayers go out to Joe Castellano. He’s going to be having a bone marrow transplant. He’ll be out of commission for a couple months. Let’s do our part and pray for his rapid recovery and to help with Cedarville Lodge as well. For Kathy Fazio and her ongoing battle; for Carlo Ponta. Jim & Jerry Sells (my in-laws) and any other member, family or friend of a member. Let’s pray and keep them in our thoughts. If you would like to have some extra prayers for someone you know, please email me their name, and I will be happy to add them to our prayer chain.
La Carota Question of the Month: The ex-Champ came back to stake his claim to our coveted bottle of wine. The “Holy Grail”of LaCarota! The “Comeback Kid”, the “Mauler of Massachusetts”, our version of Sampson (with the great hair). Our very own Mario Pompei made his comeback and put another wine bottle on his shelf. How many is that now, 2 cases? Well, the man just proves it again and again. You can’t win if you don’t play! This month’s question will be an easy one and maybe, lure some of you to the front of the line to compete for a shot at the crown. Being Club Paesano just hosted another great Festa Italiana at our beautiful park, my question will tie both “Festa” and “Club Paesano” together. The question is: “Name our two current Club Paesano members that were at one time the President of the Festa and the other member who is now the current President of the Festa Italiana? In other words, you must name the former, and the present Prez. All correct entries will be entered to win that beautiful bottle of wine. Please send your answer to me at rchabs23 @hotmail.com. Seeing I won’t be here for our next meeting, I will pick a winner at our October meeting.
I’m Off to Italy: Seeing I will be gone most of September, there will not be a “LaCarota” newsletter next month. Sorry about that. We’ll have one in November.
Final Thoughts: As I stated at the end of “LaCarota” question, I won’t be at our next membership meeting. Our VP Jimmy Calcagno will be running the meeting and will do a great job. Go easy on him, LoL! I will be on vacation. I will be going back to the ‘Mother Country,’ the place where all of this started and the reason, we are all here — Italy! I look forward to spending time with my parents, and relatives. Every time I go, I can’t help but to be in awe. Like I said, for most of us, the place where it all began. My parent’s town alone is 1005 years old. 1005 years of existence. Are you kidding me? Like my parents, and many of our older members, they packed whatever they had to come over here for a better life. They gave up their way of life and left their families to make a better life for themselves and their families. Not speaking the language and in most cases, never getting any financial help, they put their heads down and went to work. They were humble and never complained. They never had a government making things so easy for them, as our immigrants do now, but they made it. They took $50 and a suitcase, and turned it into a good living, a house and a beautiful famiglia! Something to be so proud of! As the son of Italian immigrants, I’m so proud of what my parents did, and what all Italians who came here have accomplished. I can go on and on, but will end it with this, be proud of your Italian heritage, and never, never forget your roots and where you come from! “Sempre Italiano”. Take care of yourselves and your families. I’ll see you in October. Salute