President’s Message:
Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving with all of your family and friends. The bouquet of roasted turkey, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, in the kitchen and dining rooms of most of our homes. Unless you decided to go Italian with manicotti, meatballs and tiramisu, lol! It’s that time of the year, where we welcome in the holiday season. The leaves are falling and the air has a crisp nip to it. We’ve been lucky enough to have had an extended summer without a lot of moisture.
Hopefully everyone had a chance to take advantage of it and got all your outdoor projects done for the year. Here’s to a mild fall and winter to come!
Christmas Dinner:
Our annual Club Paesano Christmas party will be held on Sunday December 11th. Doors open at 3pm. The night will start out with a cocktail hour, dinner and Christmas carols. We will have a swearing in of our newest members. Old board members will exit, and new board members will be welcomed in. The night will be topped off with a visit from Old Saint Nick himself, if you are all good! You will all be receiving a call from one of our members to RSVP. This Christmas party is free for members, their spouses or partners, and any child living in the family home who is 21 yrs. old or younger. Additional guests will be allowed for an additional fee. It’s always a fun time and a great way to bring in the Christmas season and spirit.
“We will be setting up and decorating the hall for the dinner, at 9am. If you are available to help with the set-up, please come and help out. The more members that come, the quicker it will get done.
New Board of Directors/ New Members/ Member of the Year election:
As you all know, not only do we have a great Christmas dinner, but we also take some time to welcome in a new Board of directors, while saying thank you to the members who are leaving. We also welcome in our newest Club Paesano members that are voted in and honor a new “Member of the Year”.
We have some great candidates for all. Most of the outgoing Board of directors have decided to come back for another term, but there are openings for a few new board positions.
If you want to have a say in who your new board of directors, new CP members and member of the year will be, please show up for our next membership meeting and cast your vote. If you want your voice heard, then you need to show up. It’s the only way to make your vote count unless you can’t make it and arrange to cast your vote by proxy.
In case you couldn’t make our last meeting, here are your members and the positions that they are running for, along with the names of our newest member applicants and our members that were nominated for “Member of the year”
President: Rick Cervi
Vice President: Jim Calcagno
Treasurer: John Kern
Secretary: Jim Siri
Sergeant at Arms: John Benagni (New nominee)
Board of Directors:
Mario Pompei (1yr remaining)
Chris Siri (1 yr remaining)
Doug Burchak (1 yr remaining)
Domenic Guisto (New nominee)
Geno Benagni (New nominee)
Carlos Barajas (New nominee)
Debra Ceglie (New nominee)
Chelle Ordway (New nominee)
New Club Paesano Member applicants:
Kelly Barasch – (Paul Barasch)
TamRea Calcagno Foster – (Jim Calcagno)
Lori Culdwell – (Domenic Guisto)
Member of the year nominees:
Doug Burchak
John Benagni
Jim Calcagno
Chris Siri
Outgoing Board member:
Dino Gavazza – (Thank You!)
Fun Committee:
The Fun Committee has decided to once again assemble a “Christmas Outing”. Last year we got together for the indoor Christmas Bazaar in Vancouver. This year we would like to get a group of members together to go to the “Winter Fair & Holiday Market” which will be held at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds. The date will be Saturday December 10th. At 6pm, or whenever you can get there. The event runs from 5pm till 10pm. We figured that 6pm would be a good time for everyone to get their daily chores done and have enough time to enjoy the festivities. As I say, if 6pm doesn’t work for you, just try to get there when you can. Hopefully we will all meet up and venture through the market as a group, as most of us will be meeting there, but I’m sure that we can all meet up eventually. When you get there, you can text or call me and I can let you know where most of us are. It sounds like the market will have a lot to offer, including gifts, food and drink. I will include a link to their website so you all can check it out and purchase tickets as well. Last year, most of us went out to dinner after we were all done at the event. A great time had by one and all. A fantastic way to get into the Christmas spirit with some of your fellow CP members! This event is open to all CP members, their families and close friends. The website is www.clackamascountyfair.com/winter-fair-and-holiday-market
My cell number to contact when you get there is 503-891-7374
Let me know if you are planning on coming so we have a rough head count. Call, text or email me. [email protected]
Our Monday Night Socials continue to be a hit for those of us that attend.
Food, football, drinks and dice. It’s a nice way to spend a Monday night with some of your fellow CP members. Come out and try it especially if you’ve never been to one. You might become a regular!
Paesano Bocce Club News:
Our bocce league is officially over for the year and will resume next June, but there are always some tournaments that take place at other clubs and venues. In early November, The Peppermill Casino in Reno NV. hosted a major bocce tournament. They set up one of their convention halls with 12 courts set up on carpet. This year, there were 60 teams that competed from up and down the west coast. The majority of the players came from Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. The teams there were tough. I’m proud to say that the “Paesano Bocce Club”, had 3 teams go there to compete. It was a couple days of intense competition. Our very own Club Paesano members had teams in the event. Mario Pompei, Doug Burchak, Benedetto and Antonio Mititiero were on teams that competed. Kelly Barasch, who is also a Paesano bocce member, competed on a team as well. I’m Proud to say that Benedetto and Antonio’s team ended up finishing in 5th place out of 60 teams. A very strong showing by their team! Congratulations guys and way to represent Paesano Bocce! Even though we are currently in the off season, it’s never too early to start thinking about next year. If you are interested in learning or playing in next year’s season, please go to our website or contact a current bocce member for more information www.paesanobocceclub.com
Our current bocce club board of directors will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Our current board members are: President- Mario Pompei/ Tournament Director- Brad Cotton/ Treasurer- Rick Cervi/ B of D’s – Doug Burchak and Dino Gavazza. Our biggest goal right now is to build a roof to cover our 4 new “World Class” bocce courts. We are looking at many options for fundraising for our new roof. It won’t be cheap, so we are looking for people that would be interested in helping us raise some funds to be able to raise the roof! A “Fundraising Committee”, If you have some ideas and would like to be involved, please let us know. We would love to have the help and some fresh ideas. We have some items for sale that would make great Christmas presents. We currently have advertising signs, for both businesses and families. Personalized brick pavers that will be laid around our new courts. We also have Hoodies, Tee shirts, hats and bocce towels. Of course, we would take any monetary donations as well. The quicker we raise the money, the quicker we raise a roof, and can extend our seasons to all year round. How great would that be? If you would like any one of these items before Christmas, please contact me as I have all the items with me. A great big thanks to our Bocce family for making this one of our best years ever!
Cedarville Lodge & Park Rentals:
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 Shares:
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.
Thoughts & Prayers:
Special thoughts and prayers to all the members that we lost this year.
Please continue to pray for the speedy recovery of our very own Joe Castellano and Kathy Fazio. My inlaws, Jim and Jerry Sells. Any of our members, family or friends that are sick or recovering from an illness. The homeless and the people throughout the world that are in need. Please let me know if you need me to add anyone you may know that’s in need of our thoughts and prayers. Thanks
LaCarota Question:
Well it looks like Mario is getting some fierce competition for the “Top Dog” position in the LaCarota question wine winning! Jim “The Beast” Burch has now won the last 2 bottles. He is a constant competitor that has answered at least 95% of the questions, which just goes to prove that, “You can’t win if you don’t play”! To keep with the holiday spirit, my question will be about “Thanksgiving” and our dear friend, the turkey, so here it is.
It’s a 2-part question. #1- Which state is the highest in turkey production, in terms of “birds raised”? #2- Also, which state is the highest in turkey production, in terms of “pounds produced”?
All correct answers will be entered to win the coveted bottle of wine! Good Luck.
Final Thoughts:
As we celebrate Thanksgiving and enter the holiday season with our families and friends, let’s not forget about the reason for the season. It is a great opportunity to spend time alongside your favorite people, eat and drink until you can’t, watch football and play some games. Some travel, and shop, but most importantly it’s a great chance to sit back and reflect. Reflect on how lucky we really are and how good most of us have it. A roof over your head, food in the pantry, a couple of dollars in a safe place, but most importantly, a family and friends that you can call your support group.
There are plenty of people around this world that don’t have that and could only dream about having such things. Let’s all take a minute to give thanks, love and to respect all that we have been blessed with. Here’s to a season of health, happiness and love! Take care.
Salute,
Rick