November, 2025                                                     LaCarota

Presidentes Message:

Ciao miei cari membri. As Always, I hope that this month’s newsletter finds you all happy, healthy and safe! Hard to believe that we are turning the page on yet another month and we are about 2 months from closing the chapter on another year! Unbelievable how much time flies when you are having fun! Before we know it, we’ll be sitting in front of another wonderful turkey dinner, (Or ham) watching football and giving thanks for everything the good Lord has given us. Although I miss summer, there’s something about bringing in the holiday season. All the happiness and joy surrounding the holidays and being able to share it with all your loved ones. The dinners and get togethers, the good times and laughter, just bring a warm feeling to our hearts! It just gives us all the time and reasons to be together with the ones we love, and to get off the fast lane of life for a spell. Take advantage of it and enjoy!

Columbus Day Dinner:

On Saturday October 11^th, we celebrated our 1^st Columbus Day dinner at the club. Unfortunately, my family and I could not be there due to previous plans, but I heard from many that I missed a wonderful night! So good that maybe we should consider making it an annual affair. The food was excellent, and the entertainment was pretty good! I heard from many that the comedians were pretty good, but the Frank Sinatra impersonator really stole the show. Even though he only did a few songs, the feedback was outstanding. I was told that he has an orchestra as well. Perhaps an entertainment idea for next year? I thank all the members that were able to come out and support this new event. It was different than our normal events, and I truly believe that we should incorporate a few things that are different. I’ve been saying this for a long time now, and finally we did it. I’d like to thank our Columbus Day committee for putting on this event. Joe Castellano, Anna Nassib, Marc Battilega, Greg DeMeastri, Theresa Rosseto– Barney and Debbie Calcagno- Guthrie. Thank you, Chef Greg and his staff, for preparing such an outstanding meal. I’m sure that it wasn’t easy, but you made a lot of people smile! I would also like to thank and give a special shout out to Bridget Merrill- Haines and Micheal Merrill. Bridget created and donated all the beautiful center pieces that were on the tables that night. They were a perfect addition to a classy night. Thank you all and here’s to making it an annual event.

Halloween Dance:

On Saturday October 25^th, we had our annual Halloween dance with our charity partners, “The Pink Sista’s”. They have been with us for the past 3 years now and once again, they helped us make it a great event! Our musical entertainment, “Crescendo Skye” proved once again why they are one of Portland’s hottest bands. They kept us out on the dance floor till the end of the night. Thank you to Marc Battilega and crew for keeping everyone well fed with his “World Famous” spaghetti & meatball dinner. Thank you for all your hard work and constant dedication! The “Pink Sista’s” had an auction with a lot of very cool things to bid on. I’m sure that they did well and brought in a good amount of money. If I find out how much, I’ll let you know. I understand that we all have busy schedules and sometimes have previous engagements, but I was a little disappointed at the number of members who didn’t show up. Again, I know that we are all busy, but I feel that we should make a better effort to attend our events. We only have 4 of them a year, and without member participation, it’s hard to be successful going forward. The way that I look at it is you are paying for those tickets, anyway, why not enjoy them or at least give them to someone that you know who will enjoy the event. It’s your club, let’s keep it alive and well.

Artesian Holiday Bazaar:

On Saturday November 15^th & Sunday November 16^th we will be having our 2^nd annual Artesian Holiday Bazaar. This event proved to be a success, so we are doing it again. Club Paesano in combination with “Gather Arts” will run this event mainly inside our beautiful lodge. There may be some activities outside under the pavilion but for the most part, it will be mainly indoors. Last year we had about 600 guests that came and enjoyed it. Hopefully we will double the number this year. We’ll have 30 vendors, entertainment, food and drink to purchase along with some children’s activities. If you are a vendor and would like to rent a booth for one or both days, please contact Bridget Merrill – Haines at 971-269-6316 or Micheal Merrill at 564-219-6805 for more information and rental rates. We will be giving a Club Paesano discount for a booth if you are a current CP member. As you know, putting on an event like this requires some help and volunteers to get the work done to make it a success. Club Paesano will be operating the bar and the kitchen, so I’m looking for members to help in both places. With enough people willing to help, we can set up shifts, so everyone has the chance to enjoy the bazaar as well. The days will run from 9am till 4pm, so it won’t be very long. If you are available for one or both days, please let me know the days and times that you are willing to work so that I can try to accommodate you. Please email me at rchabs23@hotmail.com or Call/Text at 503-891-7374 to volunteer. You can also go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to get all the bazaar details through our flier. You can also visit our Facebook site as well. We are only as successful as the work that we put in. I hope to see you all there!

Paesano Bocce Club:

The Paesano Bocce Club is in the middle of our Fall season but unfortunately Mother Nature is not being a great teammate. Because of the constant rain that we’ve been receiving on the weekends, it’s been difficult to play and we’ve had to cancel a few of our Sunday mornings. We are keeping the season open at this time until further notice so hopefully we can still get a few more Sundays in. Mario will notify all of us via email if we decide to cancel a Sunday or when we decide to end the season, so please pay attention for that. As I stated in last month’s newsletter, I’m pleased to announce the Grand opening of our Indoor Bocce League starting in January 2026. Just like our summer leagues, we will offer 4 nights of league play from Monday through Thursday with Friday and Saturdays being open for hourly rentals for the public. We are trying to set up 2 afternoon leagues as well. Mario and the board sent out an email for team sign-ups. We have lowered the cost for our original dues and still have room for teams every night and afternoon, so if you want to get your team in, do so before it’s too late and we fill up. If you don’t have a team, no worries, we will find you a team to make sure that you can play and have fun.

We will be offering a bar and food (at cost) and a dining area to eat and watch some great bocce. Not only will you be able to catch some great live bocce being played, but on our HD big screen tv’s you’ll be able to catch a sporting match or maybe even a movie. We will try to give you that “Sports bar” feeling. On non-league nights, we will try to set up fun bocce games like “Combat, Monte Carlo or Cozmic” bocce for prizes and maybe bring in some entertainment too. We are still in the planning stages of doing extra things beside our leagues, so if you do have some idea for our off nights, please feel free to reach out to one of our bocce board members. President- Mario Pompei (503)-890-0656 / VP- Treasurer- Myself, Rick Cervi (503)-891-7374 or Officer Lori DeMaestri (503)-382-9941. We are so excited about this new endeavor that we are taking on, and we would love to have you all be a part of it. I can’t think of a better way to get rid of the winter blues, cabin fever, and the conundrums of the winter season. Come out and have a great time with your fellow bocce members and family. All are welcome, including young adults, so if you have people in mind that would like to come out and try it, bring them over. We will also have an open house before the league starts so you can come out and try our new facilities and to hopefully encourage some new players to join. There will be more and exact information to follow on that. To all Club Paesano members. Seeing the revenue from the bar and the kitchen will be coming to Club Paesano and not the bocce club, I will need members to volunteer sometime to help with both the bar and the kitchen. We’ll have at least one person per night to set up the bar, bartend and clean up the bar area at the end of the night. If you are interested in doing this job, a serving permit will be required, which is easily obtained online, and will need to learn how to use our “POS” SYSTEM, please contact me and we can go over all of the details and you can pick out the day or evening that works best for you. This will be the same for anyone that would like to volunteer in the kitchen. A “Food handlers” card is required and again, can be obtained online. It’s a nice night out and you will be helping our club out tremendously! Please contact me at by email, text or phone call. rchabs23@hotmail.com or 503-891-7374. This is going to be great so let the good times ROLL!

Election of New board officers and new CP members:

As you know, it is that time of the year again. The election of some of our Board of Directors and voting in any new members. There are quite a few board positions available, so if you have been wanting to sit on the board and feel that you can bring new ideas, energy, positivity and a good direction please let me know. Either self-nominate or have someone nominate you. We are looking for members that have the time to spend and will take this position seriously. If you want to be on the BOD, you need to put in the time and have the willingness to help and volunteer. The club is ever changing and is heading in a new direction. We are looking for people with vision and can sometimes look outside the box. If you are that person, then get your name on the ballet. The positions that will be open are, President, Vice President, Secretary, and 3 Officers. It’s a lot of positions but we need them filled. We are also accepting applications for new members. All applicants need to be energetic and willing to help. Hopefully they have been to some of our functions and know what we do here and what we are all about. We want people that will show up for meetings, CP events and have a willingness to want to be here. If you have that person in mind, their application needs to be submitted to me and the board no later than October 31^st.  Let’s keep our club moving forward with great ideas and a membership that are willing to make things happen!

Thoughts & Prayers:

On Sunday October 19^th, we were all invited to enjoy Augie Giusto’s Celebration of Life. This beautiful ceremony was put on by our Dominic Giusto and his family. It was so nice to see all the people that came together and celebrated Augie’s life and to hear all the wonderful stories about him. You could see what a popular and loved person he was. I really enjoyed all of the stories about his life, coming from Italy and growing into a success story in the produce business. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to meet Augie but I hear so many great things about him. He was an original member of CP and worked hard to build what we have here today. If it weren’t for guys like him, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our club as we do now. Thank you, Augustino Giusto, and thank you Dominic for inviting us all. God bless each member and their families. If you would like to add anyone to our Thoughts & Prayers section, please let me know and I will be sure to add them here.

Club Paesano Dues:

If you need to pay your membership dues, or any other payment that you may owe the club, please contact John Kern at 503-519-5590 or email at johnk@botsfordgoodfellow.com. 5427 SE Thiessen Rd, Milwaukie, or 97267 A member to be in good standing each member is required to pay yearly dues of $100.00 on or before the June membership meeting. Each member is also required to purchase two tickets to each of the four major events: Mardi Gras, Spring Dance, Concert in the Park, and Halloween Dance

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net .

LaCarota Question:

Well now, don’t look now but we have a brand-new member of the “Winners Circle”. A “Rookie” at that, which really goes to show, that “You can’t win if you don’t play!” This was her 1^st time answering the question and it proved to be the winner. Congratulations go to Lori Colbert! Hopefully she’ll keep the momentum going and shoot up to the Vinos Champions level like Mario Pompei, Jim Burch and even myself from 5 years ago! Can Lori keep up, or will she be a “One hit wonder”? We will find out. Seeing that our winning prize is always the coveted bottle of vino, my question is going to be about this delicious beverage. So here it is. What year and in what province was wine first made in Italy?

There you have it. The best answer will win the “Holy Grail”. Good luck!

Final Thoughts:

As we come into the last 2 months of the year, we also come to the time of year when we need to elect our new board members. This is particularly important to me this year, because I will finish out my term as your President, and I would like to see our board remain strong and continue to build our Club and lead it into the best direction possible! That being said, I would like you all to look inside yourselves and ask yourselves if you are that person. Are you the person that has the time, dedication, energy and can put this club above a lot of things. We are in need of some strong people with good ideas that will also be able to carry out those ideas. It’s not always easy, but if there is a will there is a way, especially if it’s a benefit to Club Paesano and our longevity. The park is going through some big changes that affect us all. It affects all 3 groups equally. Cedarville, Club Paesano and Paesano Bocce Club. We must work with one another and act as a collective group. It’s the only way that we will stay right where we are. We have positions open and if you know that you are the right person for the job, then please nominate yourself for a position. Sometimes it can be hard and challenging, but at the end of the day, it is very satisfying to know that you have helped continue a wonderful tradition! Hopefully you are that person. At our November meeting you’ll have your chance to get on the ballot. Let’s always keep the best interest of our club in your hearts. Thank you.

Ti Salute, Rick

October 2025                                             LaCarota

President’s Message:

Ciao, come stanno tutti? Spero che stiate tutti bene! As always, I hope that this newsletter finds you all happy, healthy and safe! Wow, so much to cover! I just recently got home from my trip back to the mother country, “L’Italia”. It’s the country that started it all for most of us. Whether your ancestors originated from there or you were born there yourself, it’s our country of heritage and a place to be proud of. I’ve had the great fortune of being able to have ventured there many times. My father still has his family home there and we still have family and friends there. My parents were born in the same town. It’s a small town in the mountains called Picinisco. An ancient town that was established in 1017. Can you imagine a small town that is 1008 years old! My goodness, that’s old! All the other towns in the area are beautiful as well. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, if you still haven’t had the opportunity to go to Italy, please, do yourself a favor and go. Even if it’s once in your life, GO! It was great to be in Italy and to spend time with my parents, it was perfect. My parents don’t live close to here, so my time spent with them is very special to me. As much as I loved being there and being with my folks, it’s also nice to be home with my family and friends. Getting back to the grind and visiting the club once again. Thanks to our VP, John Benagni and board member Mario Pompei for running last months meeting and also to Debbie Calcagno Guthrie for getting the newsletter out. I hope that you have all had a great latter half of summer and enjoyed it all. It’s so hard to believe that we are at the end of it and that Fall begins today. Football season is back in the air and soon the temps and leaves will start falling. Not my favorite, but I know that many like this time of the year, so enjoy it before the winter hits. We have many events going on at the club in the upcoming months, so let’s get ready and enjoy them all!

Member’s BBQ:

Thank you to everyone that was able to attend the Member’s BBQ. I hear that it went well and that the food was fantastic! Thank you to all of you that came in and helped to prepare and cook the food. As always, I’d like to send a special shout out to Marc Battilegga for planning and arranging the meal. Jimmy Calcagno, Domenic Giusto and everyone else that helped in the kitchen and made it a special day. It’s an appreciation dinner, so we’d like to thank all of you that have helped throughout the year for volunteering, helping, promoting and being involved! We thank you for that! Club Paesano is only as strong as our members, so let’s keep up the good work. Thank you!

Columbus Day Dance:

On Saturday October 11th we will be celebrating Columbus Day and bringing back this event that has been postponed now for a couple of years. A committee headed up by Joe Castellano was formed to bring this event back and to also celebrate Club Paesano’s 70th anniversary. Joe compiled a committee of members from not only CP, but other local Italian clubs too. This year’s event will be “Semi-formal”, including a sit down 5 course meal prepared by our very own chef, Greg DeMaestri. Greg and his staff will prepare a wonderful 5-course meal served to you at your table and will have you wanting more. A night of entertainment will follow our meal. It will start off with Jamie Goetz,as he sings all of old blue eyes, “Frank Sinatra’s” favorites. After that, hold on to your cannoli’s, our featured entertainment will be none other than the “Uncle Louie Variety show”. Lou Greco and Carlo Russo have been touring North America with their songs, jokes and different Italian characters for years. If you’ve never heard of them or had a chance to listen to them, please go to Youtube or Facebook. Their brand of comedy will surely make you laugh! Tickets are on sale now on our website, www.clubpaesano.org. Please get yours now before they run out. There is still time, and tickets are available at last check. This is for 21 yrs and older and is open to the public, so invite all your family and friends! Hope to see you all there. If you have a business that you would like to promote, the committee is putting together a Columbus Day book, where you can advertise your business in. Please contact one of the committee members for more information. Joe Castellano, Marc Battilega, Greg DeMaestri or Anna Nassib.

Halloween Dance:

On Saturday October 25th, we will be celebrating our annual “Halloween Dance”. Doors will open at 5:30pm and we will party the night away till 11pm. Marc and his family will be serving up his “World Famous” Spaghetti & Meatball dinner, followed by dancing from “Crescendo Skye”. We’ve had this band here before and everyone loves them. They will have you out on the dance floor burning up the carbs from that wonderful dinner. Our charity partner will be one of our favorites, the “Pink Sistas”. They are not only a great charity that does wonderful things for women and breast cancer awareness, but I can honestly say that Deb Hart and her members have become fantastic friends to Club Paesano! She and her crew know what it takes to not only raise money for their cause but bring in a whole lot of people that want to party and have a great time. We are a perfect combo and partnership! I’m so glad to have met her. Tickets are on sale now, so go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to purchase yours now. This is one of our best events and could be a sellout, so don’t wait, get yours now! There will be a costume contest as well so be original, wear a costume and bring home a prize. Costumes are optional, but I recommend them. It’s always a fun time! As always, invite your family, friends, co-workers, and advertise as much as you can. Let’s do our best to make this party huge and a “SELLOUT”! See you there!

Christmas Bazaar:

Last year we tried something new. Club Paesano partnered with “Gather Arts” (Bridget and Micheal Merrill) to bring you our very 1st “Christmas Bazaar”. It was a 2-day event that featured craft, food and drink vendors, craft classes, music and everything else that you’d have to bring in the holidays. I believe that we had at least 600 guests coming to our club between the 2 days of activities. It was such a success that we have decided to make it an annual event, and we have booked it again for Saturday and Sunday, November 15th and 16th, so mark your calendars. There will be a lot more details to come, but if you are a vendor and you do have crafts or something that you’d like to sell, please contact Bridget Merrill-Haines (971-269-6316) Michael Merrill (564-219-6805) or myself, Rick Cervi (503-891-7374) to reserve a table. All Club Paesano Members will be given a discount on booth rentals. Please stay tuned, there will be more information to follow.

Paesano Bocce Club:

Even though our summer leagues are over, bocce is still rolling along with the start of our Fall season. We started it off with a rainy and soggy day, but our members are troopers and played through it with 3 games of fun. We are only a week into it, so if you would like to sign up, there is still room for players. Every Sunday morning starting at 8:30am till 12pm we will meet. We will continue to play from now until Mother Nature forces us to stop. We will meet up at the courts for games, competition and fun. Every Sunday you will be picked randomly and placed on a team of 4 to compete against other teams and try to gain points that will be tallied up at the end of the season for bragging rights. You will play 3 games, then be given the chance to “Shoot” 4 balls for bonus points. We added this to help with and to teach players how to shoot the ball, which is also an important part of the game. This will be our 3rd season and has proven to be a fan favorite. If you can’t make it every Sunday, no worries. This season is for individual points, and we will play with whoever can make it. It’s also a great chance to play with other players of all calibers and a good way of meeting other players that play on different nights. The cost is $25. After an awesome season of league play and tournaments, I am so excited to announce the opening of our very first indoor league! Cedarville Lodge and the Paesano Bocce Club have come to an agreement to have our bocce club build courts inside of the lodge so that we can hold league play all winter long. This is very important and exciting news for us and hopefully all of you! This will be a great way to hone your skills all year long and also give you something to do during the long winter months! We’ve heard that some of our members have gone to play at that “Other” place in town but have complained about the quality of the courts. Well, that’s because their 1^st love over there is Pickleball, not bocce ball! At our indoor courts we will do our best to offer you the highest quality courts that we can. We are giving back to our members, so I hope that our members come back home to play and make this a huge success. Along with our 3 courts, we will offer a “no – host” bar and a grill for “pub style” food. We will have a seating area with tables so you can eat and watch the games as they are played. Our initial plans will be to run leagues from Monday to Thursday nights and afternoons. Friday through Sunday will be for bocce court rentals. If you’d like to come out and play a few games with your families and friends, you’ll be able to rent the courts at an hourly rate. Play, eat, listen to music and have a fun time! Go to our website at www.paesanobocce.com to stay up to date on our new endeavor and for any other information. Thank you to all of you that volunteered and helped our board to get the job done. If you are interested in getting more involved with decisions and discussions involving the future of Paesano bocce, please let us know. See you on the courts!

New Membership applications & Board elections:

Hard to believe, but we have already come to that time of the year again. It’s time to bring in new members and vote for new and returning members of the board. If you have someone that is interested in becoming a member and are the type of person that will bring good things to our club, then have them fill out an application and please bring it to our next membership meeting. Our deadline is usually the end of September, but I will extend it to the end of October if we have people that are truly interested. Please make sure that they understand who we are, what we do, and what is expected from them. Make sure that they have attended some of our events and are willing to do what it takes to become a true Paesano! We will also have openings on the board of directors, including my position as your President and several board positions. If you feel that you would like to become a board member and can bring some new and productive ideas and energy to our wonderful club, then step up and either get nominated or self-nominate. If you have a person in mind that you think would be a benefit to our board then speak to them and if they are willing, then nominate them.  We will also be looking to vote members in for our “Member of the Year”. This is our club my friends, let’s do all that we can to keep it strong and to keep it alive! We have all done our best to do just that. It’s time for everyone to be involved and to help this club out. Now more than ever! Please go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org for new member applications.

Thoughts & Prayers:

I was sorry to have missed Carlos’s Celebration of Life. I was told that it was wonderful. All his family, friends and Paesano’s were there. So many great stories and heartfelt memories of a truly great man! I can just hear all of the great things that people were saying. I truly miss him. We all miss him! As I was gone, I also learned of the passing of Augostino “Augie” Giusto. Augie is Domenic’s father and was one of our original members. Augie was also elected to our very 1^st CP Board of Directors. If you ever go into our boardroom, look at the names engraved on the table. Augie’s name is on it. Augie was a huge part of making Club Paesano what it is today and one of the original members that worked on our building that was originally condemned when the Paesano’s 1^st purchased it. Domenic and his family would like to invite all of us to join them for Augie’s Celebration of Life. It will be held at Club Paesano on Sunday October 19^th at 4pm. Food will be provided and it will be prepared by our Greg DeMeastri. Domenic asks us to bring a story about Augie and a smile! I’d also like to send some prayers out to Jim & Jeanie Burch.

If you have anyone that needs our thoughts and prayers, please let me know early so I can add it to our newsletter.

LaCarota Question:

I know that you all missed the fact that we didn’t have a question last month. Sorry, I didn’t do a newsletter because of my trip. I figured that you needed a break anyway! Lol! We did have our July question that was won by none other than Jimmy “Bam Bam” Burch. I can safely call Jim one of the top 3 winners. Jimmy wins, because Jimmy plays! If you want to be in the top 3, or 4 or 10, you must play! So, what will this month’s question be? I got it. Seeing I was just in Italy, and it was August, I would like you to name 3 big events that take place in August and the 3 different cities that they take place in.  Name all 3 and your name will be in the running for our coveted bottle of vino. Let’s see if we can get someone new on the winners board.

Club Paesano Dues:

If you need to pay your membership dues, or any other payment that you may owe the club, please contact John Kern at 503-519-5590 or email at johnk@botsfordgoodfellow.com. 5427 SE Thiessen Rd, Milwaukie, Or 97267 A member to be in good standing each member is required to pay yearly dues of $100.00 on or before the June membership meeting. Each member is also required to purchase two tickets to each of the four major events: Mardi Gras, Spring Dance, Concert in the Park, and Halloween Dance

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net .

Final Thoughts:

There is so much going on in the world today. After being on vacation for a month, I really noticed how disconnected I became from our everyday news. I guess that I really enjoyed my time with my parents, family and being in a country where it all began. Suddenly reality kicked back in when I found out about the death of Charlie Kirk. All at once, everyday life came back with a vengeance. We all know how we felt. We have all heard the talking heads and their points of view. I’m not bringing this up to regurgitate all of that but to just agree with one main point. We all need to be able to speak our points of view and have conversation without the worry of being censored, fired, threatened or worse! We should be able to do it without fear but with an openness to learning. Maybe an idea or a fact that you didn’t know. I know that most of us are already like that but would like to reiterate that Club Paesano will always be that place. It’s a place to have that discussion and conversation and to learn from one another without any fear or persecution. We will always respect each other’s opinions and beliefs and know that we are safe in doing it in our house, our club! We are all a part of the Paesano Famiglia. Love, respect and enjoy one another. Life has shown us that it can sometimes be short, so enjoy the time that we have! Much love to all of you!

Ti Salute,

Rick

Urgent All Call For August 2nd – We Need All Club Members to Help!

President’s Message: 

Hello everyone and happy summer season to you all. As always, I hope that this newsletter finds you all feeling happy, healthy and safe! I’m enjoying it all. We have backyard BBQ’s, block parties, concerts, parks and beaches to have fun with. Family and friends to visit and go out with. Of course, we have our own events to take advantage of at Club Paesano. Some of us are playing bocce, and hopefully all of us will be attending our “Concert in the Park” on Saturday, August 2^nd. Whatever you’re up to, have fun and make the most of it all! I’m going back to the Mother Country, Italia, with my folks! I’m looking forward to getting back there with my parents to visit their town, other cities and especially our relatives. In fact, we have already been invited to a wedding. The party’s already starting, LoL! Take care and have fun! 

Concert in the Park: 

Well, believe it or not, that time of the year is already upon us. It’s “Concert in the Park” TIME! Yes, on Saturday August 2^nd we will celebrate our annual summer party! It’s only 2 weeks away. Unlike other years, this will be an all-day event, and an “All Hands-on Deck” event, meaning if you are in town, I’m hoping that you will not only be attending, but also volunteering to pick up a shift or two. There will be plenty of duties to be filled with different time slots. If you would like to have your choice, then I advise you to sign up early. I don’t want to assign you to a position and time, so please volunteer early, by contacting Kelly Barasch @ (971-806-9524) or Daniela Sardo @ (503-310-9127) for volunteer duties and time slots. If you don’t, and you are attending, then I will assign you a spot. I want this to be a fun event for all of us, but in order to do that, we will ALL need to help! Our set-up day will be Friday August 1^st starting at 11am. If you are not working during the day or can come out after work and volunteer for a couple of hours to set up tables and chairs, your help will be appreciated. We don’t have enough time to do it Saturday morning because the Farmers Market will be setting up at that time. The day’s events will include our very 1^st Farmers Market (being run by Bridget & Micheal Merrill) which will open at 10am and will go through 5pm. If you have something that you would like to sell and would like to rent a booth, please contact Bridget at 971-269-6316 for more information. Once again, our charity partner will be our Filipino friends, “Calabarzon”, which will hold their own mini concert in the lodge from 12pm till 4pm. They’re entertainment will include 3 Filipino singers from Las Vegas. Let’s help our friends out and attend their concert too. The ticket price for their event is $25, and all proceeds will go to their charity “Calabarzon”. They will also sell some of their favorite Filipino food. Their charity raises money to send a group of dentists over to impoverished towns in the Philippines. The dentists care for children at no cost, for those families that can’t otherwise afford it. It’s such a great cause. At 4:30pm, we will open the gates for our “Concert in the Park”!  Our famous Spaghetti & meatball dinner will be served at 5:30pm followed by our entertainment. “5 GUYS NAMED MOE” will be taking the stage at 6:30pm and will have you dancing the night away till 10pm. Our party will continue till 11pm or later. This is a “Family Friendly” event, so please bring the children out too. We will have children’s activities at the Farmer’s Market as well.Children’s prices are; 12-6 yrs old – $10 / Children 5 and younger are free! We’ve made it more affordable for our families. There are still plenty of tickets available, so let’s get online and purchase your tickets, to get your favorite seats. As always, please invite family, friends, co-workers and the general public. This event is open to all! Let’s all do a last-minute push to get more tickets sold! Let’s make it a “Sell-out” and have a whole lot of fun! Go to www.paesanoclub.org to purchase your tickets now. 

Paesano Bocce Club: 

Paesano Bocce Club is rolling along! We are 2 weeks away from our playoffs followed by our Championship Sunday on August 10^th. It’s so hard to believe that we are already so far along in our leagues. I guess it’s like we all say, “Time flies when you are having fun!”. It has been a very fun yet competitive season. All of our members are having a great time and have been spreading the word. We have received so much interest from new people that have either been recruited by our current members or have just looked us up. They are interested in playing bocce and heard that we are the best place to play. Well, I’ll 2^nd that! If you are not playing yet, what are you waiting for? If you have any interest at all, please come out to watch or arrange a date with one of our board members to meet at the courts to learn more about the game and to roll a few balls. Our board members, Mario Pompei, Doug Burchak, Kelly & Paul Barasch, Lori DeMaestri or myself, will be happy to help you with that. On the weekend of July 12^th and 13^th, we held our biggest tournament of the year, our “Aldo Rossi” Tournament. As always it was a great success! We had teams that came in from California and Washington. All the teams loved it and are already making their plans to come back. In fact, they want to bring others from their states. That’s awesome! We had 2 days of very good competition and tough play. I’m glad to report back that our Paesano bocce club faired very well and am very proud to say that “Pallino or Bust”, the team that I play for, took 1st place overall. The team consisting of Brad Cotton, Betty Hansen, Joachim Creten and myself. We had to work extra hard, going through the loser’s bracket to get to the finals. All of the games were close, but at the end, we were victorious! There are so many people to thank that made this whole tournament run smooth. 1^st of all, I’d like to thank our very own, Joe and Nick Rossi. They both stepped up and sponsored us with great funding to make this a great event! We were able to provide more prize money and pay for more places finished. We were also able to provide our players with breakfast, lunch and beverages and a huge Saturday night dinner, which everyone complimented. I’d like to thank our President, Mario Pompei, for putting his playing aside and ran the tournament. It was smooth and went off without a hitch. All our games were done quickly and were on track. Thank you for that! I’d like to thank the rest of the board for all that was done to make this tournament fantastic. Doug Burchak, Kelly & Paul Barasch, Lori DeMaestri and myself. We had months of planning, and we made it happen. I’d also love to thank our non-players and non-members that helped with food and serving. Jimmy Calcagno, Jim Burch, Debbie Calcagno, Jayne Pompei, Lynn Piraino, Diane Cervi, Jim Barnes, Mario Mastrangelo and Shawn Cage. To all the team members that came in to help set up and tear down too. If I’ve missed anyone, please forgive me. You are all appreciated so much! As you all know, Paesano Bocce is working hard to raise funds to put a roof over our beautiful courts. Doing so will promote more bocce in our area making the PBC the biggest and best place to play in the PNW! To do this, we need to raise a lot. If you are able to help us and donate funding, we are now a 501-C3. Your donations can be written off on your taxes. We will provide you with a receipt. Please reach out to our board of directors for more information. We also have Signs, for advertising or family, banners to place on our fence that faces the Spring Water trail (Great advertising location), personal pavers that are installed around our courts and tons of “Swag”. All proceeds from these sales will be put towards building our roof. If you own a company or work for a company that can sponsor our league or a tournament, we’d love that too! If you’d like a chance to play, or learn how to play, we will start our “Fall League” on Sunday September 7^th at 8am. This is a great chance for you to play with other members of all experience levels. For $25, we start playing on the 7^th and play till “Mother Nature” stops us because of the weather. Last year we played for 8 weeks. $25 for 8 weeks? What a deal. Whether you are new to the game or a seasoned vet, everyone is welcomed. Play starts at 9am and finishes at noon. You still have time to take advantage of the day! Please go to our website at www.paesanobocceclub.com for more information and to sign up for this and for anything else that’s bocce related. See you on the courts! 

Club Paesano Dues:

Our CP dues for 2025 are due on June 1st. Please contact our treasurer, John Kern to make arrangements for payments. Also please take care of any past payments of dues or dance tickets that you may still owe from our past events and 2024. Please take care of it sooner than later so John doesn’t have to chase you. John is a very busy man so let’s make it easy for him!

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net .

Thoughts and Prayers: 

It is with a very heavy heart that I announce the passing of one of Club Paesano’s best, Carlos Barajas. Carlos was fit and full of energy, so it was such a surprise to hear about it. I’m still trying to wrap my thoughts around it. Carlos was not only a great member, but a fantastic person. He was always willing to help out, whether it was for the club’s needs or if you needed help in your personal life. So many times, he would tell me that if I needed any help with a project, to call him. He was such a talented man that could do it all! Carlos had just returned from Las Vegas helping his daughter with a renovation to her home. A few months ago, he had to do a huge renovation to his own home. At our last meeting, he made sure to help me set up and said that he would be available to help all day at our upcoming Concert because this was the 1^st year that he wasn’t running in the Hood to Coast race. What a man! He gave me a bottle of wine out of his own collection and told me to bring it home and enjoy it with my family. I wanted to open it, but he said no, you need to take it home! He was so kind and always thinking of others! Like most, I considered Carlos a great person and a great friend! You will truly be missed, my friend. Rest in Peace. Carlos is survived by his loving wife, Maura (Potestio) and his children. Carlos married Maura and into the Potestio family. Our condolences go out to his family and to the Potestio’s. Phil, Micheal, Mike, Rick, Bill. I know that this is a huge loss and just know that your CP Famiglia is here for you all. The family is planning a Celebration of life near the end of August. We will make sure you all know when we have more details. Godspeed our friend! 

La Carota Question: 

Congratulations go out to Chris Siri for June’s bottle and Jim Burch for July’s. Jimmy was a one man show for July’s question, so the competition was slim, lol! It just goes to prove once again that you can’t win if you don’t play! This month’s question will be a fun one. I’m going to name a few Italians that changed their names when they became famous. I will give you their names beforehand and you will give me their celebrity names. 

1. Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filbert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla 

2. Angelo Siciliano 

3. Steven VictorTallarico 

4. Randle Poffo 

5. Mark Sinclair 

6. Ashley Nicolette Frangipane 

That’s it. Give me these Italians “Celebrity” names to win this month’s bottle of Vino. Let’s get some new winners! All correct answers will be entered to win. Good Luck! 

Final Thoughts: 

When I found out about the passing of Carlos, it again showed me how fragile life can be.  We tend to only think about the old and weak that can pass away. We never think about the strong and young. In an instance it can be taken away. Carlos was young and strong and had a zest for life. His smile would brighten the room, and his character was compassion and love. He was a genuine person with integrity and constitution. He will be truly missed by all! We all tend to have moments that fill us with dislike, disdain, jealousy, feeling down, or sorry for ourselves. We hold resentment and grudges. We all need to pick ourselves up and remember that all of this can be taken away from us in the blink of an eye. One day you are here enjoying life, and the next you could be gone. Not only you, but a loved one. This is not a message to depress, but to evaluate and think about how precious life truly is, and to make the best of what we have. Sometimes we just need to drop the negative and think about the positive. Let’s make the best of the great times and the great people that surround us. I personally enjoy my family and will make the most of my time in Italy with my parents. Say I love you and don’t go to bed angry. Trust me, I’ve been told this so many times. I know that you all know it too and don’t need to hear it from me, but I’ll say it anyway. Enjoy what you have, and let’s also love and enjoy our CP family. Make the best of our club and your fellow members! Here’s a salute for Carlos and to all of you. Live long and prosper! Ecco a 100 anni! Rick 

P.S. Due to my vacation next month, there will be no September newsletter. You may receive a slimmed down version from Debbie Calcagno Guthrie if she chooses to write one. Thanks 

Rick

July 2025                                                       LaCarota

*Note* There will be a Members Monthly meeting on Wednesday July 2^nd!

Presidents Message:

Hello everyone. As always, I hope that this month’s newsletter finds you all, happy, healthy, and safe! My favorite season, summer is officially here in 2 days, and I couldn’t be happier! Warmer days and nights with the longer days, just make me a happy man. I hope that you all are taking advantage of the season too. I’m working down south in Medford and am getting to see more of what this beautiful state has to offer. I’ve been here for 29 years now but have yet to see a lot of Oregon. If you’re into nature, it’s fantastic. Sometimes we get into that rut of working long hours, days, weeks, months, then years. Time goes by and we realize, where did it go? Seeing new things makes me realize that it’s worthwhile taking time out to explore, discover new things and just enjoy, without worrying about work and money all the time. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d be the 1^st person to say, “You need that money”, but you also have to take time out for yourself and your families too. As one once told me, “You need balance in your life, Ricky!” You know something, I absolutely agree, and as I get older, I’m realizing that more and more. Balance, the key to longevity! Let’s all try that. Enjoy your life, and everything that it brings you. Just do it!

Polenta Dinner / Scholarship Presentation:

On Wednesday June the 4^th, in lieu of our regularly scheduled CP Monthly Member’s meeting, we had our annual Polenta dinner and now our annual CP Scholarship Presentation. We invited all Italians in the area. We also presented scholarships for the 2^nd year in a row now. Once again, our dinner was delicious, and we had a great turnout with some members from other clubs. The Sons & Daughters of Italy from Vancouver represented well. We also had the families from our Scholarship winners join us for dinner and the presentation. All our candidates were so talented, and it was a very hard choice to pick just 3. Because we had some extra money in the funds, we decided to award 4 this year. We will always try to give at least 3 scholarships away every year, but if we can raise more, and there is a close decision again, we will try to give out more. Our scholarship fund is always looking to raise money for it, so if you are in the giving mood, we will always take a donation. Please see me or John Kern. Thanks again to Marc Battilega, Greg & Gianni DeMaestri for running the kitchen, and all the members who came in early to help set up and stayed to help clean up. Like a family event, it couldn’t have been done without all of you that participated. Thanks again to our Scholarship committee as well. We are already starting to work for next year’s batch of talented Italian students. Congratulation again to 2025 winner’s, Brady Angelo, Amelia Anderson, Stephen Crover and Nicolas Michaud. Our talented future!

Concert in the Park:

On Saturday August 2nd, we will have our 9th annual “Concert in the Park”. Like all our events so far this year, you can expect another change! With this year’s event, we will incorporate an all-day event! We will start the day off with a Farmer’s Market, run by our newest members, Bridget Merrill- Haines & Micheal Merrill which will lead into our Charity, “Calabarzon’s” musical event and fundraiser. After that, we will roll into our Club Paesano’s “Concert in the Park”. What a day we have in store for you! My advice to you all is to just take the day off and make it a “Club Paesano” Day & Night! Come in the morning to enjoy and purchase your fares at the Farmer’s Market followed by a Filipino lunch and concert. Taking a small break, to return and be thoroughly taken care of by our Club Paesano’s Concert in the Park, where you will eat a fantastic dinner then be entertained by the talented “5 Guys Named Moe”, who will have you dancing all night long! What a day! All taking place in the beauty that is Cedarville Park. I couldn’t think of a better place to hold such an event! The space, the trees, the fantastic food and entertainment. Where else can you go to enjoy such a diverse event with market, food and entertainment. What a melting pot of FUN! Our Concert in the Park will start at 4:30pm and will run till 11pm as usual but I am encouraging you all to please enjoy the whole experience that we are putting together for you! A farmer’s market, Mid-day concert and evening concert, with food, and drink to go along with it for the whole day!

With all that is happening and since this will be an all-day affair, I am declaring this to be an “ALL HANDS ON” event. We will need help from everyone, and any little thing that you can do will help. This is our club and our event. Let’s please do everything we can to help, volunteer and make this one of our best events to date! Everything we do is for our members and our club. I will get our “Volunteer Coordinators” very soon. Once they are announced, I would like for all of you that will be in town and attending to reach out to them to pick a position that you would like to work. Please help them, and let them know what rolls you can take to make this event great. If you don’t contact them, then they will be contacting you all. I want to see you all have fun and enjoy yourself. I want to see you with your families and all of your guests that you invite, but we will still need some help in putting this whole day together. Do your part, then enjoy the rest of the day. That’s all we need! More info will be forwarded to you all via email and July’s meeting. Let’s all have a great time, and also showcase our beautiful club and all that Club Paesano / Cedarville Park has to offer to our friends! Go to clubpaesano.org to purchase your tickets now for this day packed with fun! More info to follow.

Concert in the Park update: Concert tickets NOW AVAILABLE! Please go to our website at www.clubpaesno.org to get yours now. This is an all ages, “Family Friendly” event. We even lowered the price for children who are between 6 and 12 years of age to $10. Children 5 yrs and younger get in free. We will have kid’s activities to keep them all busy throughout the day. Kelly Barasch (971-806-9524) has once again stepped up to be our “Volunteer Coordinator”. Kelly and I will be putting together a sign-up sheet with the schedules of shifts and duties. I will announce it at our next meeting on Wednesday July 2^nd. Once again, this is an “ALL HANDS ON “Event. If you are in town, please plan on attending and volunteering some time. All of you are needed. Don’t forget to invite everyone you know. Let’s make a new attendance record! It will be FUN!

Paesano Bocce Club:

Well, it’s hard to believe, but the Paesano Bocce season has already completed its 3^rd week of play. We were waiting for it with so much anticipation, and low and behold we are hot and heavy into another season. Like the seasons before, our league continues to grow and has continued to provide us with better and better play. From our Monday night advanced to our Thursday night beginners, the quick improvement of talent and gamesmanship is very impressive to say the least. I’m impressed that even the newer players have locked into the game and their competitive sides are starting to show. Every night is fun, and our board continues to get such great feedback from so many of our members. Competition is great but the comradery, good times and laughter is what impresses me the most! Almost every night we’ll get a handful of people who are riding or walking on the Springwater trail stop by to see what all the fun is about. If you are interested in playing and being a part of all the fun, we still have opportunities for you to play. Most of our teams for the summer league are established, but we have a substitute list that you can get on, or you can sign up for one of our many tournaments throughout this summer. Please go to our website to check out our league and tournament schedules and everything else that’s bocce related. We always have room for more! If you need more information, please feel free to reach out to one of our board members.

Mario Pompei, myself, Kelly Barasch, Doug Burchak. Lori DeMaestri or Paul Barasch. We’ll be happy to help you out. As you all know, we are still trying to construct a roof to cover our 4 beautiful “World class” courts. We found out this year, that “Permits” are very expensive, so we aren’t as close as we thought we were, but we keep working hard to raise funding for this project. Every little bit helps! Any monetary donation will help tremendously. We are now officially a 501-C3 Non-Profit, so you can write off your donation on your taxes. We will give you a receipt. We also have a lot of Bocce merchandise and Swag, so if you want to look cool with the latest Paesano Bocce apparel, we’ll get you hooked up! We are still selling our personalized pavers which puts your name on our courts forever but also make a fantastic gift. If you walk around our courts, you will see them laid out. I’m very proud of being a part of our bocce club and would encourage you to come out and try it if you haven’t yet. I guarantee that you’ll have a great time!

Club Paesano Dues:

Our CP dues for 2025 are due on June 1st. Please contact our treasurer, John Kern to make arrangements for payments. Also please take care of any past payments of dues or dance tickets that you may still owe from our past events and 2024. Please take care of it sooner than later so John doesn’t have to chase you. John is a very busy man so let’s make it easy for him!

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net .

Thoughts & Prayers:

Thoughts and prayers go out to Greg DeMaestri’s (Lori – wife) Father in-law Tom Jorgensen. He’s been in and out of hospice but is holding on to life. Definitely a trooper that loves his family and isn’t ready to leave yet. Please keep him in your prayers. As always let’s pray for our CP members and their families. May the Lord keep all of us happy and healthy. If you would like me to add a family member or friend, please contact me before the end of the month so I can get it added.

LaCarota Question:

I haven’t picked a winner for last month yet because of our Polenta dinner but I had some of you answer last month’s question. I will draw June’s winner at our July meeting, so if you answered last month and you are going to answer this month’s question you just may be lucky enough to win double the Vino! Maybe you’ll even start up the winner’s ladder and try to catch up to high rankers, Like King Mario, Chris Siri, Jimmy Burch and so on. Get into the Winner’s Circle! You can’t win if you don’t play!

As we are having our Concert in the Park next month, August 2^nd, my question has to do with the event that preceded The Concert in the Park. What Italian event at the park preceded the Concert in the Park? Please give me the exact name of the event and when it was started.

That’s it. Easy Peezy get a bottle of wine. Maybe even two! All correct answers will be entered to win the coveted bottles of wine.

Final Thoughts:

In last month’s newsletter, I asked you to think about what being a Paesano meant to you and the reasons why you became a member of our club. There are all kinds of reasons I’m sure, but hopefully the main on was to be with fellow Italians, to carry on old and new traditions and to maintain and secure this club for as long as we can. This club was started in 1955. That was 70 years ago. Our goal as existing and new members should be to make it last another 70 years and beyond! Let us enjoy it and let our families that come after us enjoy it too. Of course, changing with the times is always in the cards and I believe that we have been and have been more aggressive about changing things up. Our events, our membership and always having the foresight to try something new. May we always stay flexible and roll with anything new that may come our way. In other words, may Club Paesano live on forever! Here’s to Paesano’s all over the world.

Ti Salute,

Rick

Presidents Message:

Ciao tutti, as always, I hope that this issue of LaCarota finds you all, happy, healthy and safe!

Has anyone been doing anything interesting? Vacations, or planning? Made any cool purchases? Maybe something you have always wanted or it just looked interesting. I just booked a trip back to the mother country, Italia. I know that our brother Mario is going soon, and a couple of our members have just returned. Daniela Sardo and Lynn Piraino enjoyed a vacation there. Hopefully you can all make it back, or for the 1st time, if you have never been. I hope that you are all getting ready for the nicer weather to come and getting a chance to enjoy everything that the outdoors have to offer. Enjoy everything that this great state has to offer you. A perfect mix of all!

Spring Dance:

Last Saturday, May 17th, we enjoyed our annual Spring Dance. This year we put a little twist on it by making it a country – western affair. As it turned out, the twist worked out and it was a great event! We’ve been trying to change things up a bit, and I have to say that everything that we’ve been trying has been a success! At our last Carnevale Dance in February, we tried using a DJ, for the 1st time in a long while. Huge success! Nothing but positive feedback. At our Spring Dance, we went with a Country- Western theme with a great band, and it was an even bigger success! This just proves to me that we can’t stay stagnant, we have to stay on top of things and we have to keep changing with the time! It’s the only way to stay relevant in this ever-changing world that we live in! We need to keep our members and the public interested in everything that we do so keeping it fresh really works! Even our famous Chef, Marc Battilega changed up his menu a bit. Mixed pasta with the most tender sausage ever. It was fantastic! I heard so many great things about the food. Everyone loved it. Marc, thank you for being flexible and creative, it really was a hit! I would also like to thank our VP, John Benagni and Sergeant of Arms, Greg DeMaestri for stepping up and chairing this event. Your help was noticeable and very helpful to me and our membership. The ideas and band you both brought in were fantastic. For those of you that missed this event, I have to say that you all missed a hell of a great time. The Sweetwater Band was unbelievably talented. They were a country band, but they had such a wide genre of music that they played. Country, rock, disco, Neil Diamond, etc. It kept everyone out on the dance floor all night long. If you’ve never had the chance to hear them, please look them up and go see them live. I guarantee that they won’t disappoint! Again, a great time had by one and all! Special thanks to all of you that came out in the morning to set up and stayed late to help clean up. As always, thank you to Marc Battilega and his whole family for running the kitchen and keeping us fed! Dino Gavazza, Lisa Kern, Larry & Becky Cereghino for assisting with the food service. John Kern and Jimmy Calcagno for running the door. Mario Pompei and Chris Siri for running the wine bar. “Lil” Mario Mastrangelo for selling 50/50 tickets, Steve Leonetti, Tommy Alabastro, Bob Bevilacqua, Jim Burch, Lori Colbert, Domenic Giusto and Mike Potestio for setting up. If there’s anyone I’ve missed, please accept my apologies. The Paesano Bocce Club was our charity and they did well. I’ll touch more on that in our bocce section. For those of you that missed it, you missed a great time, but I’m hoping that you will all be able to make it to our next big event, our Concert in the Park on Saturday August 2nd, which once again, will be a whole lot different. Change is good my friends! We’ll see you there! 

La Polenta Dinner / Scholarship Presentation:

On Wednesday June 4th, we will celebrate a great get together with our annual “La Polenta” Dinner / Scholarship Presentation. This dinner will take the place of June’s monthly meeting, so there will be no membership meeting for June. Instead, we will enjoy a wonderful meal of polenta to be shared with not only our fellow members, but our whole Italian community in the Portland and Vancouver area. That’s right, this meal is to be shared with all of our fellow Italians, so please feel free to invite any Italian that you may know to come and break bread with all of us, member or not. This is a chance for all of us to get together and enjoy a huge Italian meal with one of the most iconic Italian staples out there. Polenta was created and has been served in Italy for centuries. The whole idea of this dinner is to get us all together like we used to do at our Nonna’s house for Sunday dinner. Eat, drink and enjoy each other’s company. Just like Nonna’s house however, we’ll all have a job on this joyous occasion. You all need to take a small roll in putting this dinner together. We will need people to come in early starting at 4pm to start our set up. Chairs, tables and dinnerware. We’ll need people to help in the kitchen and to serve the platters to the tables. If you can’t make it early, you can stay later to help clean up. Of course, we will need some hungry people to eat all of this food as well. Marc will need some meat to mix into the sauce, so if you are willing to volunteer to cook a roast of some kind, I’m sure that he’ll appreciate that. Beef, pork or chicken roast and / or veggies would be great. Club Paesano will provide soft drinks and water but we encourage you to bring your favorite bottle of wine to enjoy or share with friends. One, two, three or however many bottles you would like to bring. The more, the merrier! LoL! After our wonderful dinner, we will present and introduce our 2025 Club Paesano Scholarship winners with their $1000 scholarship. This year we will have 4 recipients! They were so talented and the choices were so close that the committee decided to give out 4 this year because of the gracious donation that we received from Weston Kia, thanks to Vinny Curletto. This year our recipients are, Amelia Anderson, Brady Angelo, Stephen Crover and Nicolas Michaud. We’ll meet all of them along with their family’s that night. Congratulations all! If you can volunteer a roast, please reach out to Marc Battilega or myself to let us know. Please show up when you can, and enjoy this wonderful Club Paesano Italian feast! 

Concert in the Park;

On Saturday August 2nd, we will have our 9th annual “Concert in the Park”. Like all our events so far this year, you can expect another change! With this year’s event, we will incorporate an all-day event! We will start the day off with a Farmer’s Market, run by our newest members, Bridget Merrill- Haines & Micheal Merrill which will lead into our Charity, “Calabarzon’s” musical event and fundraiser. After that, we will roll into our Club Paesano’s “Concert in the Park”. What a day we have in store for you! My advice to you all is to just take the day off and make it a “Club Paesano” Day & Night! Come in the morning to enjoy and purchase your fares at the Farmer’s Market followed by a Filipino lunch and concert. Taking a small break, to return and be thoroughly taken care of by our Club Paesano’s Concert in the Park, where you will eat a fantastic dinner then be entertained by the talented “5 Guys Named Moe”, who will have you dancing all night long! What a day! All taking place in the beauty that is Cedarville Park. I couldn’t think of a better place to hold such an event! The space, the trees, the fantastic food and entertainment. Where else can you go to enjoy such a diverse event with market, food and entertainment. What a melting pot of FUN! Our Concert in the Park will start at 4:30pm and will run till 11pm as usual but I am encouraging you all to please enjoy the whole experience that we are putting together for you! A farmer’s market, Mid-day concert and evening concert, with food, and drink to go along with it for the whole day!

With all that is happening and since this will be an all-day affair, I am declaring this to be an “ALL HANDS ON” event. We will need help from everyone, and any little thing that you can do will help. This is our club and our event. Let’s please do everything we can to help, volunteer and make this one of our best events to date! Everything we do is for our members and our club. I will get our “Volunteer Coordinators” very soon. Once they are announced, I would like for all of you that will be in town and attending to reach out to them to pick a position that you would like to work. Please help them, and let them know what rolls you can take to make this event great. If you don’t contact them, then they will be contacting you all. I want to see you all have fun and enjoy yourself. I want to see you with your families and all of your guests that you invite, but we will still need some help in putting this whole day together. Do your part, then enjoy the rest of the day. That’s all we need! More info will be forwarded to you all via email and July’s meeting. Let’s all have a great time, and also showcase our beautiful club and all that Club Paesano / Cedarville Park has to offer to our friends! Go to clubpaesano.org to purchase your tickets now for this day packed with fun! More info to follow.

Paesano Bocce Club:

If you are a bocce member and player, you have been waiting 9 months for this announcement and that is, “THE START OF THE 2025 BOCCE SEASON!” Paesano Bocce members, that time is now here! You have been patient and some of you have even had to play at inferior courts in the off season, but never fear, Paesano Bocce is BACK! Again, we will host 4 nightly leagues from Monday thru Thursday with the most talented players in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, my fellow members, Paesano Bocce is the home of Champions! Please be a part of it if you are not all ready. If you are even curious about the game and maybe playing elsewhere, please let us know. Anyone on our bocce board of directors or a PBC member can bring you out to explain and play the game with you, so you can learn about the sport and what a terrific game it really is! Please do not hesitate to ask. Get a hold of me and I will get you connected to a day on the courts. Our leagues will start on the 1st week of June, so you still have some time to join our league. Even if you come as a single player, without a team, we will set you up with a team. You also have the option of playing part time or as a substitute. This is also another great way to meet people and to learn the sport. This past Sunday, the 18th, we hosted our annual “Meet & Greet”, where new and experienced players came together to teach the sport of bocce and get our newest and interested players involved learning and playing at least 3 games throughout the day. This day was great for our newbies to play with our experienced players to not only learn but play the game correctly. It was a terrific day for all. Thanks to all of you that came out to participate and especially to our crew that consistently shows up, rain or shine with a smile! You know who you are. Props! At our Club Paesano Spring Dance, Paesano bocce was our charity, raising funding for our “RAISE the ROOF” project.  I’m very happy to say that it was a huge success, raising $3800 that will go toward building our roof over our “World Class” bocce courts. We asked all of our teams to donate a basket that would go towards a silent auction. Thank you to all of our teams that did come through with either a donation of items or money. Anything and everything helped to raise those funds. It was a lot of work, but we got it done! I’d like to thank everyone that was involved in getting it going and making it a success. Our Paesano Bocce Board, Mario Pompei, Kelly Barasch, Doug Burchak, Lori De Maestri, Paul Barasch and myself. Special thanks to Lori DeMaestri for gathering donations and putting our donation tables together. Daniela Sardo and Lynn Piraino for gathering and preparing even after their beautiful vacations away. They still came back to support and to help the cause. Bob Bevilaqua for making sure that the tables were watched and taken care of. All of our newbies who stepped up in donating and promoting. What a crew! It was a success from top to bottom and I’m looking forward to a great and competitive season this year! If you don’t play, please come and check out what it’s all about! Let’s keep it rolling, and I’ll see you on the courts!

Club Paesano Dues:

Our CP dues for 2025 are due on June 1st. Please contact our treasurer, John Kern to make arrangements for payments. Also please take care of any past payments of dues or dance tickets that you may still owe from our past events and 2024. Please take care of it sooner than later so John doesn’t have to chase you. John is a very busy man so let’s make it easy for him!

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net .

Thoughts and Prayers:

I hope that most of you were able to make it out to our long-time member, Ron Dove’s Funeral service and celebration of life, afterwards. Ron was truly loved by his family and also his Club Paesano family. Although I didn’t know Ron for a long period of time, I really thought that he was a great man and a great member. He was always smiling and was happy to see everyone. May he celebrate his eternity in the kingdom of heaven with our heavenly Father. I also want to let you know of the passing of Jayne Pompei’s sister Tina. She passed away a month ago. May God please bless our families and all of our Club Paesano members.

LaCarota Question:

Well now, I guess the old saying holds true. “The more things change, the more they stay the same”. The reason I say that is because with all of the newcomers and multiple winners we have had win our coveted bottle of vino, one person always seems to stay the same. The “Wine winning Champion of the World”, and that man is, (Drum roll please!) Mario, “The Wine Winning” POM,,,,,,PEI!! The man is now a legend in my eyes. Just when you think that he is down and out, he arises like the Phoenix, to fly by and pluck that bottle of wine from our unsuspecting players. That is exactly what makes him the wine “GOAT” right now. A resilience and a patient desire to want to win and to stay in the game. Even when old man time comes knocking, Mario just slams the door in his face! Way to go Brother Mario, you will fill that cellar soon enough! Now, with all of that hope being spewed, are you all just going to let the “GOAT” walk all over you? Will you let him build that cellar, or will you start building your own? Let’s see who will take down the Champ in July. With that, I bring you this month’s question. Now that every one of you should have a new Club Paesano hand book, I can start to pull questions from the book again to make it fair. Plus, it will give our new members reason to actually start reading it and getting to know some of our history and by-laws! Here is this month’s question. I want you all to tell me where our very 1st Club Paesano meetings were held before the purchase of Cedarville Park. Be specific. Only one answer! That’s it, very simple. Hopefully one of our newest members will rise up and snatch that sought after bottle of vino out of the “GOAT’S” hooves! You can’t win if you don’t play, so if you’re thirsty, get to it! All correct answers will be entered to win. Please email me at rchabs23@hotmail.com with your answer. Good Luck!

Final Thoughts:

In my final thoughts segment, I would just like to ask all of our members what being a CP member means to each of you. That being said, I would love to hear everything, whether good or bad. I want to know what your expectations are and what you’d like to see changed. If you are happy with the way things are going, please let me know that as well. In a changing world, we need to change too, but some of our Club Paesano ways can also stay the same. Please let me know why you joined and some of the reasons you stay. Please let me know if you would like to see us keep some traditions or get rid of them. This club was formed a long time ago by some great hard-working Italians that immigrated from the old country wanting to keep Italian traditions alive in this new land and to also be able to hand something down to their families for generations to come. They worked hard to keep it running and to make it a home away from home. That is exactly the way that I would love to see it keep going. This is a place for us Italians to enjoy and to call home! Please feel free to answer these questions to me directly or through email, phone or text. I would love to hear back from all of you. We all have a say and together we will keep this beautiful club alive and well!

Salute, Rick.

May 2025                                                       LaCarota

President’s Message:

Ciao a tutti. How is everyone doing? As always, I hope that this month’s newsletter finds you all doing great. Happy, healthy, and safe! What fantastic weather we have been having. I hope that you are all getting a chance to take advantage of it. Just in time for Easter too. It is a beautiful time of the year. Hopefully “Peter Cotton Tail” will come around leaving loads of chocolates for all our little ones. Then us adults can burn calories chasing them around as they get on their “Sugar rushes” and go like the Energizer bunny! Maybe you can get them to take care of some of your projects while they are at it. LoL! I am currently working out of town, so I’ll be using my weekends to start springtime projects and to take care of household necessities. Hopefully by next month it will be time to get a garden in. If the weather keeps cooperating, we should be good to go but you never know. Will it be “In like a lion, out like a lamb” or vice versa. We will soon see!

Spring Dance:

Our Spring Dance will be taking place on Saturday May 17^th. Doors open at 5:30pm. Like our Carnevale Dance in February, we are going to change things up a little more for this Spring Dance, we will be going with a “Country – Western” theme. Our live band is the “Sweetwater Band” and they have a whole list of country favorites, both modern and older that they will be playing along with an array of top 40 and dance music that they will entertain us with. Marc Battilega will also be changing up the menu slightly. Our members have spoken and our board is listening! We are continuing to evolve and change in some ways, and are trying to keep the things that have been successful too. We are trying to give everyone what they would like. I personally like a good Paesano get together! With that being said, let’s do the same in return as members. Let’s get our tickets and attend the party. Invite family, friends and anyone that just loves having a FUN TIME! If you cannot make it for some reason then please gift your tickets to a couple of people that will love it and hopefully become regulars at our events. We all need to chip in and do our best to make all our events successful. Please go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to purchase your tickets now before your favorite seats get taken. This promises to be a great time! Our Charity for this dance will be the Paesano Bocce Club. As many of you know, the bocce club is currently raising funds to be able to build a roof over our 4 beautiful courts that we currently have. Your support will be appreciated. The Bocce club will have a Raffle/ Auction to raise funds, so if anyone has something that they can donate to it, we would appreciate that. If you have an item to donate, please contact me via phone, text or email and we can arrange to meet, or you can always drop it off at the club. As always, setup will be that Saturday morning at 9am. The more people that come to help, the quicker and easier it will be. If you are available on the Wednesday May 14th at 8am to help Marc make sauce at the club, I’m sure that he will appreciate it. We’d all appreciate it! Remember get your tickets now, and help to make this a SELLOUT!

Club Paesano Scholarship:

The deadline to get applications submitted for our scholarship is Wednesday April 30^th. This is a great opportunity for any senior that you may know to take advantage of. Every little bit helps when you are going into college, trade school or university. Our club will be giving away 3 scholarships of $1000 each to our deserving applicants. So far we only have a handful of students that have submitted their apps, so if you do know someone that would qualify, please have them go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org They can download the forms and get them back to us before the deadline. Our Scholarship committee will go over each one and pick out the best 3 applicants out of the bunch. I’m sure that it will be a tough decision again like last years. Special thanks to our committee. Dino Gavazza, Phil Potestio, Vince and Kristy Curletto, Anna and Reza Nassib, Donna Sinsiri- Howard, and myself, Rick Cervi.

Paesano Bocce Club;

Well, it is getting to be that time of the year. Our 2025 Bocce league season is just around the corner. Can you smell it? I personally cannot wait! I’ve been playing all winter, and I still can’t wait. The anticipation of another fantastic season awaits all of us players. If you are not a bocce member yet, what are you waiting for? It’s one of the best sports you’ll ever play. From a distance, it looks like an easy game, but if you get on a court, you’ll find out differently. I’m not trying to scare anyone, I’m just saying that it’s a little more involved and it takes a little more skill than it seems, however, it’s a game that anyone can play. Young, old, athletic, or not, man, women or child, there’s a spot for anyone and with 4 league nights that will cover every skill level, there is really no excuse not to join us. It’s a night to get out of the house for a few hours and to have some fun with a great group of people. If you are not a member yet and need to get out there to roll a few balls to see if you will like it, please come to our Meet and Greet on Sunday May 18^th at 8am. This will give you the opportunity to learn the game and get to play with players of all skill sets. A great way to feel it out and to see if the sport is for you. We would love to have you there. If you need any other information or just want to check out anything Paesano Bocce, please visit our website at www.paesanobocceclub.com or feel free to speak to any of our board of directors or our current members. As you all know Paesano Bocce will be the charity partner for our Spring Dance. As a member of the bocce club, it would be great if you and your team could attend the dance to show support but also put a basket or some kind of donation package together for us to be able to raffle or auction off. It could be anything and of any value. Our hope is to raise more funds to start building our roof to cover our World Class courts! We are officially a 501-C3 now, so any type of donation can be written off on your taxes. Again, anything will help, and I hope to see all of our bocce members at our Spring dance. Remember to go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to purchase your tickets today.

If you have never played and want to try it out before embarrassing yourself, Mario will be glad to show you how it’s played. Email Mario at paesanobocceclub@gamil.com.

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net .

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. 

Thoughts and Prayers;

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of another great man, friend, and member of Club Paesano, Ron Dove. There will be a funeral service at St John the Baptist Church, Friday May 16^th. Rosary at 12:30 PM and Funeral Mass at 1:00 PM followed by a reception at the Church Hall. 10956 SE 25th Ave, Milwaukie, OR 97222. R,I.P. Ron!

I found out last month, that if we have a member that passes away, we can request that the club make a donation to that member’s favorite charity. That would include a member’s spouse as well. Please contact John Kern or myself for more details or to make a donation. Let us send out huge thoughts and prayers to all of our members and their families both past and present!! Especially at this Easter season!

LaCarota Question;

Well now, look who’s powering through the ranks and becoming a powerhouse in the world of Club Paesano Wine Winning! Chris “Superfly” Siri, has solidified his place in our circle of winners. Look out Mario “POM,,,,PEI”. Just when you thought that you were safe to answer another question…. Look out, brother Mario, Chris is on the prowl with the Champ in his sight! Just goes to prove that you can’t win if you don’t play. Is there anyone of you that would like to knock these guys off their pedestals? If there is, then you’ll take a shot at this month’s question. Seeing that Easter is a few days away, my question will be about our holiday. Here it is. “What is your (or families) best Easter tradition?” I know that depending on what region of Italy your family is from, it can vary, but never the less, I want to hear about it. There is no wrong answer. I’ve made it pretty simple. Mario and Chris need some competition! Jim Burch, are you still out there? Dino Gavazza, our very 1^st wine winner. Johnny Kern, where are you all? Is there a newbie that would like to make a name for themselves? Anyone of you can win our coveted bottle of vino, but you have to answer! All answers will be entered into the drawing at our next meeting.

Member Recognition;

I’d like to give a special shout out and say congratulations to our very own Greg DeMaestri. Greg just opened his new catering business called “Banchetto” which in Italian means “a Celebratory meal”.  Greg is now up and running so if you are in need of a fantastic caterer for your next event, please give Greg a try. If you’ve been to some of our club events where Greg has prepared our meals, then you know what he brings to the table and the wonderful meal that you will receive. Please go to his website at “Banchetto.biz” and check it out. It’s always nice for members to support other members! Good luck in your new in devour Greg!

Final Thoughts;

I’ve been working out of town for the last month, so I don’t have a lot of my notes and my personal computer with me, to look at past newsletters and to add new things, but I know that I’m running out of time to make sure that our newsletter gets out, so if I’ve missed anything this month, please forgive me and I will get it all in for the next newsletter. I just want to give a shout out to all of our members and their families on this Holy week and this coming Easter Sunday. I will be glad to be at home to celebrate with my family and close friends. Being on the road really makes you think about how much you miss your home and family. I have been coming home on the weekends but it’s not the same as being there all the time. Luckily, it’s not a permanent thing and hopefully life will be back to normal soon. Not only do I miss my family, but I also miss being with my Paesano family, and our club activities. A break is good, but you also get used to traditional things as well and any disruption puts things out of kilter. Enjoy this Easter holiday with all of your loved ones. Have a great time together, but let’s never forget the reason we celebrate. He has risen, he has risen! Halleluiah! He died for our sins. Let us do right by our lord and savior! God Bless you and your families. Buona Pasqua to you and yours!

Ti Salute,

Rick

April 2025                                               La Carota

President’s Message:

Hello everyone. Ciao a tutti. I hope that this month finds you all, Healthy, happy, and safe! How are you all doing? Getting ready for Spring, I hope. We “Sprung forward” a week ago, so hopefully we have all had a chance to get use to the time change and that our internal clocks have caught up! I cannot believe how fast March is going by. In the blink of an eye, we are already past the midway point of the month! The trees are starting to flower and some of the plants are starting to bloom. Spring is in the air, it is very close and I can’t wait. Although March can be tricky weather wise, I think that we can kiss winter goodbye and good riddance! Here’s to Spring Break, longer and warmer days to come. Spring cleaning and the start of gardening are around the corner. I hope that you all will enjoy it. “Catch you outside!”

Carnevale Dance:

On Saturday March 1st, we celebrated our annual Carnevale Dance. It was a great night of eating, dancing, and supporting a terrific charity. Our attendance was a little over 150. It could have been higher, but I guess that is not too bad for a winter’s night. I would have liked to have seen more Paesano’s in attendance though. Our dinner did not disappoint, and as usual Marc Battilega and his family knocked it out of the park. The crowd loved it and that is why I like to add “World Famous” Spaghetti & Meatball dinner! We went with a DJ at this dance, and it was a hit. Our DJ’s played everything that our guests requested and were very interactive with them out on the dance floor. They were very entertaining and not too loud! Everyone appreciated that. Our charity partner “Creations for Cures” and their founder Renee Deifendofer had a silent auction, and they did very well. Our Paesano’s and the rest of our guests were very generous in bidding, and they were able to raise $4700. That is fantastic! Renee could not thank us enough and told me that that is the most money that they’ve ever raised in one event. We, as Paesano’s should be enormously proud that we helped out such a worthwhile charity. They cannot wait to come back and partner with us again. I personally would love to see them come back again. Special thanks to everyone that came out to make sauce, set up, help run the bar, and tear down at the end of the night. You know who you are, and I thank you all! If I try to name you all, inevitably I will forget to mention someone. I appreciate you all and I thank you!

CP Scholarship Fundraiser:

This past Sunday, the 16th of March, we had our first official Club Paesano Scholarship Fundraiser”. It was our first, because last year we combined it with our “Heritage Night” dinner. This year’s dinner was about raising funds for the Scholarship. Our committee worked very hard to put this together and procure items for our silent auction. We ended up with a lot of nice auction items. The attendance was low, but the few of us that were there ended up making up for it. We were able to raise about $2200 that evening, which will enable us to cover the funds for this year’s 3 scholarships and to get a start next year. I’d like to thank our committee for all that they’ve done and all that they will do once the applications start rolling in. If you know a Senior (of Italian descent) that will be furthering their education after high school, please have them apply for one of the 3 scholarships that we will be giving out. They will be valued at $1000 each. They can go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to apply. Please make sure to tell them that the deadline has been extended to April 30th and ignore the March 30th date that is on there right now. Again, I’d like to thank the committee of Dino Gavazza, Vince and Kristy Curletto, Anna and Rezza Nassib, Phil Potestio, Donna Sinsiri – Howard and myself, for working so hard to make this happen. We should all be very proud of this accomplishment. I’d like to give Vince Curletto a special shoutout to be able to get us $1000 from Weston Kia. That will be added to the $2000 that we made at the dinner. What a great gift! If you are in need of a new vehicle, please go visit Vince and the Weston family. They’re a fine group for sure! I’d also like to once again thank Marc Battilega for running the kitchen and keeping our guests fed and coming back for more! The scholarships will be handed out at our Polenta Dinner that will be held on Wednesday, June the 4th at 6pm. It will take the place of our regular monthly meeting. More info on the dinner will be provided in next month’s newsletter. Thanks again for your support!

Spring Dinner & Dance:

 “YEEHAA!” Our Spring Dinner & Dance will be held on Saturday May 17th from 5:30pm till 11pm. We’ll be changing things up and going “Country Western”. An Italian Spaghetti Western! I wouldn’t go that far, but there will be a different feeling to it. Our dinner will be pasta and sausage, and our entertainment will be “The Sweetwater Band”, a Country Western band that can also play some top 40 dance hits as well. They are a very versatile band and sound great! Tickets are on sale now, so please go to our website at www.clupaesano.org to purchase your tickets now. Don’t wait as this dance will be a “Sellout” for sure! Please invite your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and anyone else that will enjoy a great time! As always, I encourage you to sell or give your tickets away to people that you think that may enjoy and become regulars at our events, if you are not able to attend. Please don’t let the tickets go to waste as it’s great for promoting our club and our events! Again, get your tickets now before they run out! See ya there Partner!

Paesano Bocce News:

Spring is here and bocce is in the air! There’s no playing at our courts yet, but some of us have been fortunate enough to be able to play at other facilities and are able to practice during the winter months.I look forward to all of us being able to play and practice year round once we get the roof built over our courts. As you all know by now, Paesano Bocce has officially become a 501-C3 and we are looking to take in donations that can be written off on your taxes. If you have money that you need to donate somewhere before good ol Uncle Sam takes it, then we are the place for you.

Please get in touch with one of our board members for more information. We are planning on a busy 2025 season with league nights and tournament play. Please go to our website at www.paesanobocce.com for our schedule of events and if you are interested in joining our leagues. We are always happy to bring in new members, whether you are experienced or even if you have never played the game before, we will accommodate everyone! We have a league night for you. If you don’t see what you are looking for on our website, please feel free to reach out to one of our board members to answer any questions or for clarification. Our 2025 Board of Directors are, Mario Pompei – President / Rick Cervi – V.P. & Treasurer / Paul Baracsh – Director of 501-C3 Non Profit / Kelly Baracsh –  Secretary / Doug Burchak – Court Maintenance / Lori DeMeastri – Officer. Anyone of us will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Some of us were lucky enough to go see our friends from the north and get to play in their tournament in Auburn, WA. We consider them family, but when it comes to bocce, it’s Oregon vs Washington. We are friendly, but have a great rivalry going, when we are on the courts! This tournament did not disappoint with the Paesano Bocce Club capturing most of the medals. We went in with a mission and accomplished most of it! Congratulations to all that made the trek up there and participated. It’s very important that we here in PNW support each other. Thank you to Greg Singleton and Sal Cascone of the Auburn Bocce Club for putting on a great tournament and making us feel at home. If you are interested in a sign to hang on our fence, advertisement, personal pavers and bocce swag, please go to our website at www.paesano bocce.com 

Thoughts & Prayers:

Our thoughts & Prayers go out to all of our members and their families. May God bless you all and keep you healthy, happy and safe! If you want me to add anyone to our Thoughts & Prayers, please let me know as soon as possible so I can add them to our segment.

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net . 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. 

LaCarota Question:

Proving that you can’t win if you don’t play, Johnny “Deep Pockets” Kern came from out of nowhere like a thief in the night, to snatch up the coveted bottle of vino to add to his collection. John has also been another player that’s been getting his answers in and has been in the hunt every month. He is a competitor for sure! Congratulations “Deep Pockets”! Will John keep his streak alive, or will he be a “One Hit Wonder” for the quarter? What do the rest of you say? Can one of you step up to become the newest contender? We shall see! So, this month’s question has to do with the arrival of Spring time and how they celebrate it in Italy. My question is; Name the 3 biggest “Springtime” Festivals that take place in Italy. There are a few, but I want the 3 biggest and most famous! That is it. Simple! All correct answers will be entered to win the Holy Grail. Again, you cannot win if you don’t play, so play!! Good luck.

Final Thoughts:

As we fall into the season of lent with Easter soon to come, let’s never forget the reason for the season. Our Lord and God sent his only son Jesus Christ, to us to be sacrificed to save our souls. The ultimate sacrifice! Sacrificing your own child to forgive the sins of mankind. I could not imagine it. If you are religious or even if you are not, let’s always remember the sacrifices that our parents and relatives made for us. Every generation, no matter how old, made some kind of sacrifice that has put us in the position that we are in today. Of course, we will make sacrifices of our own for the betterment of our families and theirs to come. May we always remember to take care of ourselves but to also take care of those that need it most. May it be family, friends or even a stranger, lets always try to turn a sacrifice into a positive. Here’s to our Lord and Savior’s sacrifice and rising! Take this time to love your loved ones and help those in need! Buona Pasqua to all! Ti Salute.

Ciao, Rick

March 2025                                      LaCarota

President’s Message:

Ciao a tutti! How are you all doing? As always, I hope that you are all happy, healthy and safe! Are you all feeling healthy and is everyone following through with their New Year’s resolutions? Are you in the gym, pumping iron, doing cardio, Zumba classes or just including a brisk walk, here and there? Go for a walk with the dog and a friend, and get to know one another better. We want to see you all around for a long time! We really got our 1st cold snap of the year today, which is supposed to carry on for the next few days. 25 degrees and lower at night. No thank you! I would love to spend my winters in Arizona, Texas or any other southern state with heat! You all know my story by now, and if you do, you all know, I am the son of the sun and heat. Canada was just a cover up for me! LoL! Anyway, stay warm, and hopefully we’ll see the thermometer rise in the up-and-coming months! Here’s to the sun and sand. Who’s with me?

Club Paesano “Big Game Watch Party”;

On Sunday February 9th, we hosted our annual “Big Game Watch Party”. As usual, it did not disappoint. Our guests came in and enjoyed the festivities! Club Paesano offered up an “All you can eat” buffet, with all of our favorite Super Bowl food favorites. Pizza, Chicken wings, Italian sausage with peppers and onions, chili dogs, nacho bar, nuts, chips, etc. We sold tickets for $15. Where else could you go to watch the game, eat, drink and have tons of FUN, and bet on the game? No where!! If you weren’t able to make it in 2025, please get your family and friends together for next year’s event in February. It proved to be a great time, over and over again! The best deal in town, for sure! Special thanks to Marc Battilega once again for manning the kitchen by himself and keeping our guests fed. Marc went out to purchase all of the food, came in on Saturday to prep, then cooked it all up and kept it coming for hours! Our guests were very impressed with the spread. Thank you, Marc! Also thank you to Jimmy Calcagno, Mario Pompei for working the bar with me. Geno Benagni for making and manning the betting table. John Benagni for your tech support. Kelly Barasch for selling swag, Dino Garvazza and Chris Siri as well. As always, we thank our Treasurer and constant doorman Johnny Kern, for working the door and taking admission all game. Washing pots and pans too! We couldn’t do it without you all. Thank you for getting there early and making it run. I’d also like to thank all of the members that came out and brought guests. Every little bit helps to make our events a success! Thank you!

Carnevale Dance:

On Saturday March 1st, we will be celebrating our annual Carnevale Dinner & Dance. We are changing things up a small bit. At this dance our entertainment will be a pair of DJs. DJ Destiny & DJ Mark Lion. We’ve been wanting to try this for a while now. The DJ will offer more variety and flexibility as far as the music they play. They can take just about any request and this pair knows how to work a crowd! I would like nothing better than to see our older members out on the dance floor, dancing to a nice Italian waltz or polka. Perhaps the “Chicken Dance”? I feel like they never get a chance to get out there and shake a tailfeather because our bands have a set list which is usually just top 40 dance hits. I’m very confident that we’ll still have a great time and it will be as fun as usual. Don’t fear though, the rest of our events will have live entertainment. I feel that we are at a point and time where we need to start trying different things at our events. We need to spark new interest and get all of you out to support all of our events and have fun! Please invite family and friends and let’s make every one of our events a SELLOUT! There really should be no reason why they all are not! I really want you all to come out to this one, obviously to support one of our events, but to also support our charity partner. “Creations for Cures” will be our partner for this dance. They are based in Gresham and when I met with their founder and survivor Renee Deifendorfer, I knew that this was a special one. Their cause really pulls at my heartstrings, and should pull at yours as well! Renee was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma when she was 28 yrs old. When she was going to her chemo treatments, she found that creating art and painting really kept her mind positive and away from the cancer treatment. I’m very happy to say that she survived and decided to create this charity. She decided to focus it on children and adolescents that have been diagnosed with some kind of cancer. The monies that are raised through her charity events are then used to buy art supplies, package them and then send the kits out to hospitals and treatment centers, so the children can create art while going through their treatment. All at no cost to the hospital or family. She supplies many hospitals in multiple states. Wow, what an undertaking, and God bless her for taking this on! What an amazing person. I brought her in as a guest speaker at last month’s meeting, so some of you may have had the pleasure of meeting her. She’s a lovely person. Again, I can’t think of a better reason to come to the dance, support your club and support a beautiful cause!! To raise funds for her charity, she will have a silent auction and raffle. If you have something that you would like to donate for her auction / raffle please get a hold of me ASAP. I can give it to her. Let’s show her some Club Paesano love and support and let her know that we Paesano’s know how to support our community! Ticket sales are very low as of now, so if you haven’t purchased yours yet, please get them soon! Invite everyone you can, and remember, if you can’t make it to the dance, please sell or give your tickets away to someone that you feel will enjoy our events and hopefully will want to come to our next one. We can’t do this without all of our support. You’ve been cooped up in the house all winter so why not bust out and celebrate a fantastic night with your fellow members and friends while supporting such a wonderful cause! See you all there!

Club Paesano Scholarship Fundraiser:

On Sunday March 16th, Club Paesano Scholarship committee would like to invite all of you to our Pasta feed fundraiser. This will be an “All you can eat” dinner including pasta, meatballs, salad, rolls and a dessert. We will also include one adult or soft drink beverage with your dinner. We will offer a “No host” bar after that. The cost will be $25 for adults and $15 for children 12 yrs to 6. Kids under 6 yrs of age are free. Along with dinner, we will have a Raffle / Silent Auction, going on to raise money for the scholarships. All the money raised will be put into our scholarship fund. Last year we were able to award 3 scholarships at $1000 each. That was great, so we would love to match that, or even add more money to each if we raise enough. That’s where you all come in. Come and support it all. It’s a great way to support our youth and future while covering your dinner plans for that night! No cooking and doing dishes, we’ll do it all for you, while you eat, drink, have fun and support a fantastic Club Paesano cause. If you have a teen, grand-teen or relative that is a senior and is intending on extending their education to a university, college or trade school, please have them apply. The scholarship application will be on our website very soon.  Go to www.clubpaesano.org and follow the instructions. This will be their 1st test! LoL! Have them fill out everything needed, then email it back to me at rchabs23@hotmail.com so our committee can start going through them. Let’s get together to support our future professionals, tradespeople and the kids that will be running everything very soon. We are still in great need of raffle and silent auction items, so if you can help us procure items, or if you have something that you would like to donate, please let me know. Anything will be appreciated and will help to raise money. Our doors will open at 3pm and we will go till 8pm. You can come at any time between to eat and support the raffle. We will be serving food the whole time.  You can also take it to go if you can’t stay. Our raffle / Silent auction will be drawn at the end of the night but you don’t have to be there to win as we will have you put your name and phone number on the tickets that you purchase. Let’s support our future Paesano leaders. I hope to see you all there.

Paesano Bocce News:

There is not a lot of Bocce being played as of now, but the Paesano Bocce Club Board of Directors have been very busy getting things done for this upcoming year. We have been meeting regularly, getting by-laws in place, dealing with our new 501-C3 status and getting our schedule locked down for not only our league but our tournaments as well. This year will not disappoint!!! Big money tournament, with players coming in from as far as Dallas TX and California. We have exciting times ahead. We met up with the City of Gresham to discuss our project to cover our courts. It was our initial meeting and they had a lot of information for us to take in and digest. It was a lot, and there were things that we learned. Like any project, you figure out a way to work through everything and our “Roof Committee” will do that. We are still quite away, but we know what we have to do now! Raising money is one of our primary commitments. If you would like to donate to the roof, we can give you a receipt so you can write it 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. If you are currently a bocce member and would like to be more involved with our board and in our decision making, we are always looking for people to run committees and have good ideas that will help us. Not only in our fundraising, but in running our league nights and tournaments. If you have any interest in doing that, please reach out to one of our board members and let them know. 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”! Let the good times ROLL!

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net . 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:

 Mark your calendars for Saturday October 11th. Our Columbus Day committee has formed and have had a couple of meetings so far. They have our entertainment for the night booked. “The Uncle Louie Variety Show”. The boys are very excited to come out to the PNW. They’ve never been out here before, so let’s show up and show them how we Italians from Oregon roll! They’re a very funny duo that promises to have you laughing all night! If you haven’t seen them before, I encourage you to look them up on “Youtube” or Facebook. We will be treated to a 5-course meal served at your table, created and headed up by our very own Greg DeMaestri and his crew. If you would like to join the committee to help and add your ideas to it, please reach out to Joe Castellano (Committee Chair), Anna Fazio Nassib, Marc Battilega or Greg DeMaestri. It’ll be a fantastic night, and we’ll be bringing back our old Italian tradition along with all of the other Italian clubs in the area, the Columbus Day Dinner! Stay tuned for more information and ticket sales as it arrives.

Calendar of Events for 2025:

In our last month’s Board meeting, it was asked, “Can we put our events with dates in the Carota” So everyone can see it?” Ok Giovanni, here they are!

March 1^st ~ Carnevale Dinner/Dance

Mach 16^th ~ Scholarship Fundraising Dinner

May 17^th ~ Spring Dinner/Dance

June 4^th ~ La Polenta Dinner

August 2^nd ~ Concert in the Park

September 14^th ~ Members BBQ

October 11^th ~ Columbus Day Dinner and Show

October 25^th ~ Halloween Dinner/Dance

December 7^th ~ Christmas Dinner Party w/Santa

Thoughts & Prayers:

Last month I forgot to mention the passing of Doug Burchak’s father Jay. Jay passed away last month. He used to be the music teacher at David Douglas High. Our condolences go out to Doug and his family. Thoughts and prayers to all of our families and friends. May God keep us all healthy and strong! If you have a person that you would like me to include in the newsletter, please let me know by mid-month, so I have time to add their name. Thanks.

LaCarota Question:

Well, it looks like the Wine King has some heavy competition peeking over his shoulder. Just when Mario “The Mauler” thought that he was back in the driver’s seat of winning, along comes another. Chris “Superfly” Siri, has been creeping up the winner’s board, and is solidifying himself as a true contender. “Superfly” has been another constant in answering the question every month and it’s been proving to be successful. As I always say, “You can’t win, if you don’t play”!

If you would like to be a contender, then you need to put in the work, and answer the question. Success may come your way too! So, let’s get on with this month’s question. Seeing yesterday was Valentine’s Day; I want to focus my question around old St. V himself. As we all know, Valentine’s Day is surrounded by love, happiness and a lot of sweets! Chocolate, candy, flowers and romance top the day. With all the love and happiness surrounding the day, did you know that it wasn’t so bright in the beginning? When St. Valentine first started out, it wasn’t all love and roses. So, my question is this. Tell me why St. Valentine’s history wasn’t so great. There’s a couple of reasons, so I will accept them both. There you go. A little twist on a loving day! I bet Hallmark wouldn’t want to know about this! LoL! All correct answers will be entered to win the coveted bottle of Vino!

Final Thoughts:

Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all. Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and I hope that you were all able to enjoy it. I know that the snow may have hindered some of our plans, but hopefully you were still able to make it work. I hope that you all got to spend time with the loved ones in your lives. I know that sometimes life and everything else gets us so involved and focused that we don’t get that special time to spend with the ones we hold so near and dear to our hearts. Hopefully we can show one another love and appreciation every day and not just on February 14th. I know that most of us do, but every once and a while we need to be reminded of the little things too. Here’s to love peace and harmony to all of us, our families and friends. May love rule!  

Ti Salute, Rick.

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net . 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

January 2025                                      LaCarota

President’s Message:

Ciao a tutti. MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Happy New Year to one and all! My Goodness, we are now less than a week away! By the time you get this, you may be opening presents and getting ready to sit down to that magnificent meal that I spoke about in last month’s newsletter. Oh boy, I can’t wait! As always, I hope that this month’s “LaCarota” finds you all, Happy, healthy and safe! Have you all completed your Christmas shopping yet, or are you the last-minute shopper that likes to run through the mall and stores desperately grabbing at gifts that you think will work? Even though it’s last minute, there’s still some kind of “rush” about the whole thing! The sounds of Christmas carols and jingling bells in the air, with Santa and the St. Vincent’s kettle in the doorways. Crackling fires with castagne roasting and the fresh smell of Christmas trees. Ah Christmas is here! The favorite holiday of children and adults alike! “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Christ is Born today!”

January’s General Meeting Rescheduled:

January’s meeting will be rescheduled for Wednesday January 8th. The 1st Wednesday of January is New Year’s Day. Stay home and enjoy the start of 2025!

Club Paesano Christmas Dinner:

On Sunday December 8th, we celebrated Christmas all together in our typical CP manor. Great food, fun, and the arrival of good ol St. Nick himself. Our dinner was fantastic! Our caterer really makes sure that the food is tasty and they take the extra time to do things right. After all these years, they realize that the way to impress a true Italian is with fantastic food! Not only do we look, but we taste. And it better taste, as good as it looks! These guys have it dialed in and have been impressing us for the last several years. After our wonderful dinner, we had the honor of thanking our old board of directors, bringing in our new board and our newest installment of members. Both our new board, and our new members look great. There’s a lot of enthusiasm from both. I think that this is one of our largest crop of new members ever! 8 of them. It just goes to show you that there are Italians in the area, that still want to connect with their Italian heritage, and want to belong to the best Italian Club in the Pacific Northwest! Speaking of new members, I would like to thank Bridgett Merril-Haines, for already jumping in to help us out. Bridgett donated all of the beautiful centerpieces that were on each table. She made these herself, and we were able to raffle them off to make money for our CP Scholarship fund. How nice was that? Not even a day in and she’s already impressing the club! We thank you Bridgett!! We continued the night with our Christmas Carol sing along, with our all-time fan favorites, “Dominic the Christmas Donkey” and the ever popular “12 Days of Christmas”! It always gets our members going! The night was capped off by a visit by none other than Santa Claus himself. He landed on the rooftop and made his way into the lodge. He probably followed the wonderful aroma of our beautiful meal! The children were ecstatic and followed him onto the stage in hopes of getting a nice little gift and a Christmas picture. Santa didn’t disappoint! This was a terrific party to say the least and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing board members, welcome in the new BOD, members and our “Member of the Year”. Thank you to Geno Benagni, Carlos Barajas and Dominic Giusto, for your constant help and dedication to the CP Board. I thank you for all of your hard work and you will all be missed! I would like to welcome our newest board members, Vince Curletto, Debbie Calcagno Guthrie, and Greg DeMaestri. I look forward to working with you all and your new ideas. Welcome to our newest members. Micheal Merrill, Bridgett Merril- Haines, Vince Moore, Mario Mastrangelo, Lori Colbert, Steven Castellano, Ambrose (Ace) Calcagno and Lynn Piraino. We all welcome you into the family with open arms and look forward to your new ideas, energy and insight. Last but not least, our “Member of the Year”. The night would not be complete without this announcement. This year’s recipient was none other than our guy, and keeper of the cash,,, John Kern! John Kern has always been there for our club. Not only does he do our checks and balances, and has been our Treasurer for a million years, but he is always there to set up and tear down for every event. He’ll also spend hours at our front door or gate collecting money for our events. John is the epitome of what it means to be a great CP Member. This is always a tough pick every year, because there are a lot of members that step up every year and sometimes it is very close, but I’d have to say, “Johnny boy, you deserve it! Thank you!” I’d also like to give a quick shout out to my lovely daughter Adriana, for manning the children’s section and keeping them entertained. We all appreciate you!

Another great Christmas Dinner in the books. Thanks to all of you that came out and enjoyed the evening.

CP Scholarship & Fundraiser:

During our Christmas dinner, we did raise money that will go towards our Scholarship fund, thanks to Bridgett Merril- Haines and her donations of the centerpieces that we raffled off and thank you to my wonderful wife Diane for manning the raffle table all night. On Sunday March 16th, we will have our official Scholarship fundraiser. It will include a dinner of some kind and a raffle/ silent auction. Please help us in procuring items for this.  Gift baskets, gift certificates, sporting or concert tickets, tools, vacation homes, lessons & classes, wine bottles etc., etc. Anything that can be raffled or auctioned off will be accepted. There’s no time like the present to start collecting these items. Of course, cash donations will always be accepted! If you have any of these things to donate, please get in touch with me and I will be happy to meet you to collect. I thank you in advance. We would like to give away another 3 scholarships, just like we did last year, and if we are able to raise more money, that will make each of the scholarships worth more as well! Let’s go, my fellow members! This is for our youth and their education. After all, they will be our future leaders! Let us do all that we can to help them. The applications will be ready to go very soon and will be available on our Club Paesano website. I will let you all know when they are ready. If you have a child, grandchild or family member that is eligible, then I highly recommend you getting them an application as every bit helps! We will announce and present our recipients the scholarships, at our “LaPolenta Dinner” on Wednesday June 4th. Please help out with auction items, and stay tuned for the application news. Thank you.

Paesano Bocce News:

Well, there’s not too much bocce being played now because of the season, but we still have a bit of news. Our board of directors is working on plans for our new 501-C3 Non-Profit status, fundraising and our upcoming 2025 schedule for both leagues and tournaments. It’s a very exciting time for our bocce club and great to be a part of. Expansion of our leagues and the plans of getting our beautiful “World Class” courts covered with a roof. This will not only extend our bocce play, but will put us on the national scene of the bocce world. Getting National teams to play here would not only be a fantastic thing for Paesano bocce, but would also help out the surrounding community. There’s a lot of players from around the nation that would love to travel to the PNW, to not only play bocce but explore the state, as many of them have never been out this way! It would be a great notch in our Bocce Belts! We are always looking for donations and if you are lucky enough to have money that needs to be donated to a nonprofit this year, before Uncle Sam dings you on your taxes, we are the exact place that you are looking for. We will be happy to write you a donation form for your taxes. If you are in that position and would like to divert some monies into our nonprofit, please contact Mario Pompei, myself or one of our other board members. We’ll be more than happy to help you! As always, we do have some items that would make great gifts or will help you to rep the club. Apparel, personalized pavers, signs and advertising. Rentals of the courts are always available too. If playing bocce is something that you may be interested in, please let one of us know. We will be happy to answer any questions that you may have, and will help you to get signed up if you want to join. We had a very good year, let’s do everything possible to keep it going onward and upwards! Thank You!

Thoughts & Prayers:

I’d like to extend our condolences to our member Donna Sinsiri- Howard, whose husband Mark passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last month. Please reach out to her. I’m sure that she could use some friendship and an ear to bend at this very difficult time. I would also like to send our condolences to long time Festa committee member and Daughter of the “Sons & Daughters of Italy” Vancouver branch, Barbara Blair. Barbara was a great representative of the Italian community in this area. As I said, she was a Festa rep, that was at every event selling Festa and Italian apparel. Barbara was always a staple at both the Festa and the “Sons & Daughters of Italy”, and will be missed by many! If you have anyone that you would like me to add to our T&P section and prayer chain, please let me know as soon as possible so I can add it to the next newsletter.

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 sdpetruzelli@comcast.net . 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. 

LaCarota Question:

Well, well, well. Once again last month, we had a new competitor rise from the depths to reach up and snatch that ever so coveted bottle of vino from the open hands of his opposition. He came from nowhere, to steal the bottle and “Slam Dunk” it home for the win! Congratulations go out to John “Cash King” Kern! Way to go Johnny Ola, the new King of the Vino Prizeola! Let’s see if John will be a “One hit wonder” or will he continue to represent himself as the “King of the ring”!

Seeing that Christmas is only a few days away, and last month’s question had to do with a favorite Christmas treat, let’s keep the Christmas theme going. After all, whoever gets tired of Christmas! This month’s question is this. I want you to give me your interpretation of the “Feast of the Seven Fishes”. Any adequate answer will do within reason. Anything close will be entered to win. Let’s see who will be the 1st winner of 2025. Who knows, you might become a “LaCarota” question in the future, if you do win. All answers will be entered to win the bottle of Vino. Good luck! 

Final Thoughts:

Well, I have to admit, I really thought that this was going to be my last “LaCarota” newsletter, but guess what, you’re all going to have to deal with my newsletters for another 12 months! LoL! I hope you don’t mind, but that’s the way it goes. I’m really honored to have been elected again to represent you all and our wonderful club. As always, I will do my best to make you all proud, and to always keep this club of ours moving in a positive direction. I will strive to do more and to keep the club relevant. I’m very proud of what we have accomplished in my last 4 years as your president, and look forward to making this coming year one of the best yet. I look forward to working with our new board and with all of you to bring in new ideas, and some new perspectives. I’m constantly seeing growth and a steady popularity of Club Paesano, which makes me know that we are doing something right! I also look forward to getting more members involved and to take on bigger roles. As I have always said in the past, this club cannot continue to run off the backs of a certain few. If you want to continue to be here, then you should get involved. You don’t have to wait to be asked, just step up and ask, or do. New ideas are always welcomed and I always invite you to come and speak with me or anyone on the board. If you want to see an idea come to life, please feel free to ask for help, and we will help you. I will help you! I’ve had a great time and will continue to have a great time being your President, but eventually this torch will have to be passed on to another member, who will love and respect this club, and want to see it keep moving forward and upward. I know that a few of you have what it takes, and I will be willing to help and guide you if that’s what you would like. The future of this club depends on it! With all that being said, thank you and I won’t let you down. Please enjoy your families, friends and all of the loved ones in your life at this special time of the year. Enjoy your gifts, meals and good times, but let’s never forget the true meaning of Christmas! Christ is born! Please have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I’m looking forward to a very prosperous 2025! Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo!

Ti Saluto.

Rick