November 2024 LaCarota
President’s Message:
Ciao! Come state tutti? Come sempre, spero che questa newsletter vi trovi tutti sani, felici e salvi. Ecco a cento anni e benedizioni dall’Italia! Sorry, I’m still in my Italian mode. Getting to speak it as much as I can when I’m there is such a blessing. I barely get to speak it when I’m here unfortunately, so it has been awesome getting to practice it and conversing. Surprisingly enough, everyone understood me, and I made my way through for a month! It was FANTASTIC! There are not enough words to describe how much I love Italy! Our “Mother Country”, the place where it all began for so many of us. Our parents and ancestors’ beginnings that were passed on to us! As I said in my last newsletter, being in Italy and getting to see its beauty, its ingenuity, architecture, art, landscape, is such a wonderful thing! Add its delicious foods, sensational wines and desserts especially Gelato! My goodness, how can you ask for anything else? I’m not into sweets but I could literally eat fresh gelato every day. I had to leave before I became too heavy for the plane ride back! LoL! For any of you that have never been or if it’s been a while since being there, my recommendation is to go. All kidding aside, if you have the ability to get there, please do, you won’t regret it! I hope that you have all been doing well and getting ready for the new season to set in. At least we’ll all get a little calm before the winter months hit. I’m really not looking forward to it, but it could be worse. Before you know it, we’ll be bringing in 2025 and hopefully for all, we’ll be looking back at what was a great year!
Halloween Dance:
On Saturday October 19th we had our annual Halloween Dance. We got to party with the “Pink Sista’s” and dance the night away with “Crescendo Skye”, our musical entertainment. What a night and what a success! We were a handful of people away from a “Sellout”! Our attendance was just shy of 300. That was a great showing. Thank you to all of our members that could attend. I hope that you all enjoyed it. For those of you that couldn’t, hopefully you can make the next one. Our Halloween dance is always a fan favorite and brings out some fantastic and original costumes. It was a 70’s themed party and we even included a costume contest. It was a lot of fun. Our charity partner, the “Pink Sista’s” , had a raffle and silent auction which raised a good amount of money for their cause. Deb Hart loves teaming up with us because we’re fun and know how to throw a party, but most importantly, she is able to raise the kind of money that it takes to take her Survivors on retreats and give them the support that they need. She is so thankful and loves that we are able to help with her mission! As always, I’d like to thank Marc Battilega and family for cooking and keeping everyone well fed. Thank you to Dino Gavazza, Lisa Kern, Doug Burchak and any other member that helped the kitchen crew out. Thank you to John Kern and Jimmy Calcagno for working the door. Mario Pompei and Chris Siri for running the wine bar. John and Geno Benagni for fixing the POS system, and of course all of you that came to help set up and tear down. None of this could be done without all of your help. We had a great set up crew in the morning, and I thank you all. That is the kind of support we need for every event and function. We are a family, and everyone needs to do their part to make this a well oiled machine run. Every little bit helps. Let’s keep this momentum going and try to make each upcoming event as successful as possible. Thank you!
Italia Artisan Fair:
On the weekend of November 23rd & 24th. Club Paesano along with “Gather Arts” will be putting on our 1st and hopefully annual “Holiday Bazaar”, Italiano style! The “Italia Artisan Fair”. This is an idea that’s been in the works for a couple of years and has finally come to fruition! I’ve been working with Bridget, Micheal and Sam Merril, (Daughter, Son and Grandson of long time member, Jim Merrill) from “Gather Arts” to put this event together and to make it a reality. “Gather Arts” offers several different classes at their family farm in Brush Prairie WA. You can go there as a group or individual and learn “DIY” crafts that they offer up. They are a very talented group. You can go to their website at www.gatherarts.com and check out all that they do. This is a Club Paesano event, and we will run a few different things to raise money for our club, so we will need members to volunteer for certain jobs. Kitchen help, bartenders and bar backs, main door, parking cars and security. Kelly Barasch will be our “Volunteer Coordinator” and will be reaching out to our membership to fill these positions. It is a 2 day event, so I’m hoping to have enough members volunteer so that we can all come out and enjoy this event with our family and friends. This event will resemble an indoor “Farmers Market” with vendors, craft classes, food, drink and music. You will probably be able to get some of your Christmas shopping done as well as taking a class or 2 and maybe be able to make a gift for that special loved one. We will have the pleasure of listening to the music of one of our own, Ace Calcagno. He is the son of Chris Calcagno, who unfortunately left us way too early. Ace has studied music and is a professional musician, with several CD’s to his credit. If you are a member who does crafts, and would like the opportunity to sell your creations at this event, we will offer all members a discount on a table rental for the 2 days. Just contact myself or Bridget Merrill to get a spot reserved. This event is being held at the start of the holidays and will be a great opportunity for you to make a little bit of Christmas cash! If you are musically inclined or know of someone that is, we could use a few more talented people to keep our guests entertained. Again, let Bridget or myself know. You can contact me via email or phone. Email, [email protected] or ph# 503-891-7374. You can also contact Bridget Merrill at www.gatherarts.com or ph# 971-269-6316. This is our 1st event of this kind, so if you have any ideas or input that you think would be helpful to make this event even better, please feel free to contact me and let me know your thoughts. All ideas are welcomed. This event is open to the public and to all ages so make sure to bring and invite all of your families and friends. Please help to spread the word and help to fill this event up. The times are Saturday November 23rd, 10am – 7pm and Sunday November 24th, 10am – 5pm. We may even have a 2 day appearance from none other than “Dominic the Christmas Donkey”. Now how can you miss the opportunity to have your children’s and your pictures taken with this celebrity. If you have any input, suggestions or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I can’t think of a better way of bringing in the holiday’s, Paesano Style! We’ll see you there!
Club Paesano Christmas Party:
On Sunday December 8th, we will be hosting our annual Christmas Dinner and visit from none other than Good Ol Saint Nick. This is another favorite and opportunity for all of our members to get together and enjoy a Club Paesano Christmas. It’s always been one of my favorites. It’s one of the benefits of being a member of this wonderful club. It’s another chance to celebrate the holidays together with all of our families in the confines of our beautiful Cedarville Lodge. This is a catered party with some delicious food. We’ve had the same caterer for the last 4 years and they have been great! They really do a wonderful job and make us a memorable and fantastic meal. As always, wine, beer and soft drinks will be provided at no cost to our members. If you have a favorite bottle of wine that you’d like to bring, feel free to do so. Our meal will be followed by CP Christmas carols, including the always fun, “12 Days of Christmas” and the fan favorite, “Dominic the Christmas Donkey”. Following the Christmas cheer, will be our annual installment of our CP Board members and Officers including our CP Member of the year. All of this wouldn’t be complete without our annual visit by Santa Claus. That’s only if we’ve all been good lil Paesano’s though. I guess I’ll check in with the North Pole that day to see if we even have a chance. I’m sure that all of our little ones will give us a great chance of seeing Saint Nick show up with some gifts for them. In case you don’t know or are fairly new, this event is free to all members in good standing including your spouse or partner and any child that is 21 years of age or younger still living in your residence. You can also invite a close family member or child that may not live under your roof for a fee. For extra adults, the cost is $28. For young adults 5 to 12 yrs, $18, and is free for children under the age of 4. Also, if you have not yet paid your membership dues or any other outstanding fees that you owe, you will need to take care of this before or on that day, or you will not be able to partake in this fantastic event. If you owe, then please pay up. Don’t miss out because of it! This is a great event that brings us all together. Expect a call from Marc Battilega to confirm the number of attendees for dinner and for a headcount of our little ones so that Santa can come prepared. Let’s bring in the holidays with a good old fashion Italian family dinner! Doors will open at 3pm with our dinner to follow. Buon Appetito!
Club Paesano Scholarship:
Our 1st annual CP Scholarship was such a success and I am so proud of what our newly formed committee did to make it happen. I’m so happy to be involved with them. I really believe that it’s one of Club Paesano’s “Shining Moments”. It really shows that we are involved in our children’s education and that their Italian heritage is so important and something that we truly need to help carry forward. This is something that I’ve always had a passion for and I hope that it will be carried on for years and years to come! Let’s all do everything we can to keep the education of our youth and future leaders, professionals and workers alive and well. Although our Dinner and fundraiser will take place sometime early next year, there is no time like the present to start procuring donations and gifts for our raffle and silent auction. As of now, this is our main resource to raise money for our scholarships. If you all can go out and secure items, we will have plenty of things to make the money necessary to give to these scholarships. Earlier this year, we were able to give away 3 scholarships of $1000 each. If we can raise more money, maybe we can add more to each scholarship or maybe even offer another one. This will all depend on the funding that we will be able to raise. Anything will be appreciated. If you have something that you can donate or if you would like to be involved in our Scholarship committee, please contact me. Thank you and here’s to our Italian Youth!
Installation of CP Board and New Members:
As you know, the end of the year brings on the installation of newly elected CP board members and the introduction of our newest members. We’ll also introduce a new “Member of the Year”. We have a group of new people that have expressed the desire of becoming new CP members. I have spoken to them and their sponsors and have explained to them what is expected of them to join our prestigious club. Not only do we want them to be a good fit for us, but we also want to be a great fit for them too. We would like people that will be involved and want to be part of our family. A person that will not only be active but will be proud to be a Paesano and want to make sure that this club continues from generation to generation. We will also be looking to fill some vacancies coming to the board of directors. If you feel that you would like to become a board member and have what it takes to represent not only your membership but the club as a whole, or feel that you can nominate someone with these characteristics, please feel free to self nominate or to nominate that individual. This club has made some leaps and strides and we would love to keep that momentum going. It takes hard work and dedication. It’s not always easy, but the reward is always so fulfilling. Knowing that you helped in keeping our club and your fellow members active and moving forward is fantastic! We are looking for members that can spend the time and be dedicated to the cause. Let’s expand and bring in new ideas, personalities and points of view! I for one have enjoyed my 4 years as your President and the 3 years that I spent as a board member. It really gave me a sense of pride and accomplishment. As I said, it’s not always easy, but the reward really makes up for any of that! I love it and love this club. If you feel the same, step up and take on a position! This year brings on a lot of openings.Nominations of Board members and new member introductions will take place at our November’s Meeting. Voting will take place at our December’s meeting.
Your board of Directors: (Years remaining)
President: Yours truly; Rick Cervi- End of Term
Vice President; Jim Calcagno- End of term
Sergeant of Arms; John Benagni- End of Term
Treasurer; John Kern- Indefinite
Secretary; Marc Battilega- 1year remains
Board Member; Geno Benagni- End of Term
Board Member; Carlos Barajas- End of Term
Board Member; Dominic Guisto- End of Term
Board Member; Mario Pompei- 1 year remains
Board Member; Chris Siri- 1 year remains
Board Members; Phil Potestio- 1 year remains
New Members Nominated; (Sponsor)
Vince Moore- Greg DeMiestri
Lynn Piriano- Rick Cervi / Mario Pompei
Mario Mastriano- Daniela Sardo
Lori Colbert- Steve Leonetti
John Siri- Jim Siri
Ace Calcagno – Debbie Calcagno Guthrie
Steve Castellano – Joe Castellano
Bridget Merrill-Haines ~ Rick Cervi
Michael Merrill ~ Jim Merrill
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:
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.
Paesano Bocce Club:
Our Bocce “Fall League” is still going on. Fortunately, Mother Nature has been on our side and has given us the opportunity to be able to play for the last 8 Sundays. Wow, that’s more games than we played in our Summer League. It’s been great to see all of the new and regular players coming out every Sunday morning to play and have a fun time. There’s been some fantastic games being played and it’s been a perfect opportunity for our newer players to learn from our seasoned vets. Hopefully we will be able to get a few more weeks in before the temperatures drop and the water spigot gets turned on. We have a couple of tournaments coming up out of town and am happy to say that we have at least 5 teams from our bocce club going to them to represent us. We 1st have a tourney in Dallas, Texas. The “Lone Star Invitational”, which will have 2 teams representing and a week later in Reno Nevada. The “Peppermill Open” which will host 3 more of our teams. It’s great to see that our players are starting to branch out and playing outside of just our facilities and Paesano sponsored events. It’s the only way that we will start getting noticed and recognized for our talented bunch of members. If you’d like to get involved with our bocce league and would like to play in our league, please reach out to one of our board members or go to our website at www.paesanobocceclub.com for more information or to sign up. As you know, we are still raising funding to put a roof over our four “World Class” courts. We are now a 501-C3 Non-Profit, and any donation we get is now a tax write off for you. It’s coming to the end of the year and if you happen to be in that position where you need to divert some of your earnings to avoid giving it all to Uncle Sam, then we have just the place and cause for you to donate it to. Please contact myself or Mario Pompei for more information. Of course we will take any monetary, material or volunteer donation as well.
Let’s “RAISE THE ROOF”, and put the Paesano Bocce Club on the national scene!
The Fun Committee:
Our Monday Night Socials are still alive and well. Please feel free to stop in on a Monday night to eat, drink and have a FUN time with your fellow CP Members. We are planning on another Christmas outing so please stay tuned for upcoming news about it.
Thoughts and Prayers:
Our Thoughts and Prayers go out to all of our CP Members, their families and friends. May the good Lord bless us all and keep us all safe, protected and blessed. May God keep this club and our members active and in good graces. Let’s keep moving forward and know how fortunate we are to have one another. If you know of a member or someone that is in need of an extra prayer and some help, please let me know and I can add them to our newsletter.
Doug Burchak’s brother Mike had a heart attach and scheduled for triple bypass surgery.
La Carota Question:
Well, well, once again it was Jimmy “Bam Bam” Burch who clawed and climbed his way back into the winner’s circle! I tell you what, I am so impressed by Jimmy’s tenacity and consistency in answering my monthly questions. I can always count on seeing an answer from ol “Bam Bam” himself. Once again proving that if you don’t play, you can’t win. I really think that he’s trying to make a run at the Heavyweight Champ, Mario “The Mauler” POM,,,PEI. Way to go Jimmy and the rest of you that consistently answer the questions. You make it fun! So on to this month’s question. Seeing that we are in the Halloween mood, just wrapping up our own party last week, my question will be about our very 1st Club Paesano Halloween Party. My question is 3 parts. 1st; What was the date of our very 1st Halloween Party? 2nd; Where was it held at? 3rd; Who was the musical entertainment? If you can answer at least 2 out of the 3 parts of the question, you will be entered to win not only one, but two bottles of wine. Yes you heard me right, 2 bottles of wine!!! Just in time for your Thanksgiving Day meal. All correct answers will be entered to win our coveted BOTTLES of vino! Be like Jimmy Burch and Mario Pompei, “Just do it!”
Final Thoughts:
As I stated earlier in our newsletter, the time has come once again to nominate and elect our new Board of Directors. Some people may return, and some that get elected may have been there before. The most important thing is that we nominate and elect a board and bring in new members that will always hold our club and its membership in high regard. I’m hoping that we put people in positions that deserve it and who aspire to do good things for our club and its members. I feel that the administrations that I have been involved with and those that were there before me always had those intentions and put this club 1st. That being said, if you feel that you are that person and feel that you can keep a positive momentum going for the betterment of this club, then speak and step up. Get nominated or self- nominate. We all need people that have the energy, time, and desire to do something new and maybe better. We want to build on the foundation that our founding members and the members that came on throughout the years have built for us. New ideas and directions are always welcomed here. As Emeril Lagasse always says, “Let’s kick it up, another Notch!” We all have it in us, we just have to put it out there. We’ve had some great leaders with great support, let’s keep this tide rolling! Here’s to all of you that keep the future of this club looking bright. Ti Saluto!
Rick