December 2024 LaCarota
President’s Message:
Ciao a tutti. How are you all doing? As always, I hope that this edition of our newsletter finds you all, Happy, Healthy and Safe! Happy Holiday season to you all. I know, I can’t believe that we are already here either. Again, where has the time gone? I hope that you are all getting ready for the massive food intake! Let’s face it, we’re Italian, and it can’t be an Italian party without enough food to feed a small village. Food has always been a huge part of all of our holidays, birthdays, Christenings, communions, weddings. It’s just who we are and a part of our “Well Being”! Trust me, I’m not complaining, not at all! I love waking up and smelling those magnificent aromas of wonderfully constructed Italian dishes created by the best engineers of all, our Mamma’s! I don’t know how they did it. Our Moms prepped the day before, woke up early the day of, and “BAM”, the creations started. The masterpieces started taking shape, and before you knew it, you were sitting down to a magnificent 7 course dinner! A $200 meal without a doubt. Just writing about this, is taking me back to my mom’s cooking. I’m starting to smell the aroma and unconsciously tasting what I grew so accustomed to and unfortunately sometimes took for granted. I know that we’ve all tried to carry on our parents’ traditions, and hopefully have all come somewhat close. Here’s to all of the ladies, and men in our lives that did their best to keep us full but most important of all kept our family traditions alive. It wasn’t all about the food, but having the family together in one place and enjoying being with one another. Let’s all try to keep our family traditions alive and well. Here’s to all of our families and the holidays that get us all together! Cheers!
Italia Artisan Festival:
On Saturday November 23rd and Sunday, the 24th, we offered our very 1st and hopefully Annual Holiday Bazaar. The “Italia Artisan Festival”. This was our very 1st time having this type of event. As you all know, change is good, and I’m always in search of anything that we can add to our club to make it better! With the help of our newly sponsored members, Michael Merrill and his sister Bridgett Merrill-Haines (Children of long-time member Jim Merrill) this event was a huge success! It was not only great for Club Paesano, but it also shed a lot of light on Cedarville Lodge & Park. I heard so many great things about our facilities and how gracious our club is. The guests that joined us were amazed at what a fantastic place we have. Like I always say, this is a place that we all need to be so proud of. They couldn’t say enough great things. Hopefully not only will this help us with our future events and getting new guests through the doors, but also helps Cedarville with many rentals to come. Thank you once again to “Gather Arts”, Michael Merrill, Bridgett Merrill- Haines, for getting this event off the ground. You took a vision and made it happen! I appreciate you both so much! I’d also like to thank all of our members that took part in making this, our 1st annual event a success. Greg Demister, Jimmy Calcagno, Mario Pompei, Chris Siri, Geno & John Benagni, Kelly Barasch, Doug Burchak, Jimmy Burch, Dino Gavazzi and all that helped out. These events and new ideas can only come together if we take the ideas and visions and all work together to make it happen! A huge Thank you to all and here is to more ideas blossoming in our future!
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. That said, Club Paesano is starting their “Fundraising Drive” for our Scholarship program. The Club Paesano Scholarship Committee will have a Donation box set out at our CP Christmas Dinner, so that our members can drop off cash, check or credit cards to make a donation to the cause. Thank you and here’s to our Italian Youth!
Installation of CP Board and New Members:
Election of new Club Paesano Board & Members:
As you all know, the end of the year brings the election and installation of our new board members and officers. This time also gives us a chance to vote on our newest group of terrific people that would love to become Club Paesano Members. People that have expressed and shown interest in wanting to not only become members of our fine club, but also want to be involved in our growth and our future. It’s a great thing that we keep expanding our membership. People want to become members and are excited about it. This just goes to show that we are doing something right. What a great compliment to all of us and this great club that we belong to. In November’s meeting we got to meet and hear our newest prospects. We have a good number of new applicants, which just shows that our club is a place that people want to be a part of. We also had many members nominated for our open Board positions and our “Member of the Year”. So here are you nominees and new members applicants. I’d also like to thank our current board of director members that are leaving the board. I thank you with all my heart and appreciate everything that all of you have done for our club!
Board of members that will be leaving their positions:
Geno Benagni
Carlos Barajas
Dominic Giusto
*Returning Officers & Board Members:
John Kern
Marc Battilega
Mario Pompei
Chris Siri
Phil Potestio
*Officers and Board of Directors Nominees:
President; Rick Cervi
Vice President; John Benagni
Sergeant at arms; Greg Demiestri
Board of Directors; Bennedetto Mietitiro, Vince Curletto, Debra Calcagno Guthrie, Domenic Giusto
*New Member applicants / Sponsor
Ambrose (Ace) Calcagno – Debbra Calcagno Guthrie
Lori Colbert – Steve Leonetti
Steve Castellano- Joe & Stefano Castellano
Lynn Piraino – Mario Pompei
Mario Mastrangelo – Daniela Sardo
Bridgett Merrill-Haines – Rick Cervi
Michael Merrill – Jim Merrill
Vince Moore – Greg Demister
*Member of the Year:
Jim Burch
John Benagni
Doug Burchak
Mario Pompei
Kelly Barasch
Debra Calcagno Guthrie
Rick Cervi
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:
Paesano Bocce Club:
Well even though all of our Paesano Bocce leagues and tournaments have come to an end, some of our members were involved and signed up for out-of-town tournaments. The 1st being in Reno Nevada at the Peppermill Casino and the 2nd being in Grand Prairie Texas, right near Dallas at the Lone Star Racing Park. The Reno Tourney had 4 Paesano bocce teams represented, and the Texas tourney had 2 teams from our club represented. I am happy to say that one of our teams that went to Reno came in 3rd out of 60 teams. Way to represent and play hard. The Paesano members representing the team, “Palino or Bust”, consisting of, Captain, Brad Cotton, Joachim Cretion, and Betty Hanson, kept their heads down and went to work! They overcame a couple of losses to win enough games to take 3rd overall! The field was 60 deep, so this was a very tough feat with some great competition. Our 2 teams that went to Texas, didn’t fare as good, but had a great time and represented our club well. To all of our club members that went to these out-of-town tournaments, we say thank you and are thankful that you represented Paesano Bocce. For all of our members that are actively playing and that haven’t played in any of our out-of-town tournaments, I strongly encourage you to try it. It’s great fun and a good way to network and meet fellow bocce players from other cities and states. I have gone to quite a few now, and it’s been so positive. Not only do you get to watch and play some good bocce, but you also get to meet some bocce players from different states and hopefully some future friends. It’s been a great experience, and I recommend it to all of our bocce members. For any of our Club Paesano members that don’t currently play but are interested or are in need of information, please feel free to go to our website at www.paesanobocce.com or contact one of our board members. Anyone of us would be happy to help you and answer any questions that you may have. Also, if you have any extra money that you need to donate before the end of the year, Paesano Bocce is the place to donate it to. As you know, we have become a Non-Profit 501-C3, so any of your donations can now be a tax deduction on your taxes. We are raising funds so that we can build a roof over our bocce courts. This will put the Paesano Bocce Club on the nation’s bocce map! It would definitely bring players from all over the nation to play here in Oregon. I personally spoke to quite a few people at the Texas tournament that have never been up to the Pacific Northwest, but all commented on how they would love to visit our area. “If you build it, they will come!” Please help to get this roof built. It will be a great addition to our grounds and will benefit all of us tremendously! Any monetary donation will be appreciated! Here is to rolling into our next year and to another successful year!
Thoughts and Prayers:
I’d like to give a great big Club Paesano Congratulations to our member Greg Demister and his lovely new wife Lori Bass. They were newlywed at our beautiful Cedarville Lodge on Wednesday November 27th. Truly a great time to give THANKS! Here’s to the newlywed couple. Wishing them all the best in the newest chapter of their lives. All love, peace and prosperity to a fantastic couple and two people that I have the privilege of calling friends!
LaCarota Question:
Well now, just when I thought that we had one contender, Jimmy “Bam Bam’ Burch fighting his way to the top of the Vino Champions Summit, there has been another member that has been sneaking his way into the contender’s circle. This member has been pretty “Stealth like” in his rise to the upper echelon, but I have to admit, I like it!! Congratulations go out to none other than “Pistol” Pete Rebagliati, for winning this month’s big prize of two bottles of wine. Yes, that’s right, it was two bottles that I gave away! Pete won back in August, and has been another constant in answering my questions. I really appreciate the answers that are sent in. It really makes me think that you all are reading the newsletter, LoL! Will we have another up and comer challenge for next month’s coveted bottle of vino. It will be the last one of the year, that is!
So, for this month’s question, I will stick to the holiday theme. There is a certain “Sweet” that is given out in Italy at Christmas. It was a treat that I always looked forward to when my Nonna from Italy would send a gift pack to us from the old country. It was always at Christmas time for our family. My question is, name this certain “Sweet” that I am referring to. I will give you all 2 hints to make it a little bit easier. As we know, Italy is full of so many delicious sweets! The Christmas treat that I’m thinking of is in rectangular form, (long like a candy bar) and usually has nuggets or pistachios in it. Ok, before I tell you what it is, I will stop. What is the name of this delicious treat that I speak of? That is, it. Answer this question correctly, and you will be written in the history books as the last Vino Winner of the year 2024! As I always like to say, “You can’t win if you don’t play”, so get your winning answers into me before next month’s meeting. All correct answers will be entered in our drawing. Good Luck!
Final Thoughts:
My final thoughts this month are about the upcoming holidays, our CP elections, new members and our Club in general. First off, I want to wish everyone the best of the holiday to come. I hope that you all find yourselves amongst your families, and that you are all able to spend some special time with them. I hope that you all find peace, love and happiness with all of them. May you also have a full belly with all of the fantastic food that we are all about to have! Don’t worry about it, your New Year’s resolution is around the corner, so eat and be Merry! Once again, this is the time of year for Club Paesano that brings in our newest members, and our newly elected Board of Directors. When you make your selections and cast your votes for each, please keep your club in mind. Ask questions and get to know the candidates that you are voting for. The main thing that we all want is to have members and new candidates for membership, who want to do the best for our club and its membership. We want people that will work hard, and promote the best of Club Paesano. We want our members to advertise, be active, bring new ideas and new energy. Just think about your club, its members and its future! With all that being said, I just want to see the best for our club and its growth. A lot of us that are constantly involved have our CP Famiglia here and want to see it expand and continue to grow in a positive way. I want to wish you and yours the best of the holidays to come, and I will deliver you one more newsletter before the end of the year. Here’s to a great Thanksgiving. Let’s remember to give “Thanks” for all that we have and our loved ones that are with us. Let’s remember those who are less fortunate and “Give” to those who don’t have the essentials of everyday living. Let’s give Thanks! Thanks to our families and thanks for a great life!
Ti Salute!
Rick