Elks ‘Taste of Italy’ dinner raises $2,000 to help veterans

By Pete Fontaine
Posted 2/23/17

The Elks credo – Elks Share, Elks Care – surfaced like never before Saturday night inside the Tri-City Lodge 14 on West Shore Road in Warwick.

Lodge volunteers, led by Leading Knight Robert W. …

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Elks ‘Taste of Italy’ dinner raises $2,000 to help veterans

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The Elks credo – Elks Share, Elks Care – surfaced like never before Saturday night inside the Tri-City Lodge 14 on West Shore Road in Warwick.

Lodge volunteers, led by Leading Knight Robert W. “Bob” Hartington, prepared and served a mini “Taste of Italy” that wound up raising upwards of $2,000, which will be used to assist a veteran and family transition from military life back to civilian life.

It was a night of pomp and circumstance, replete with benediction given by Hartington’s wife Susan, the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem played through a mobile sound system by disc jockey Bob Millett.

It was a night that featured an appetizer table that included shrimp cocktail, a huge cheese, cracker, fruit and the famed pizza chips courtesy of legendary bakery icon Don DePetrillo of the Original Italian Bakery in Johnston.

It was a night that featured three different pasta stations with as many salads and Italian breads, some of which came from famed Westcott Baking Company of West Warwick and a dessert table that offered homemade brownies by Cheryl Devlin, cookies by La Favorite Bakery of Warwick and cupcakes donated by Baked Awareness, who’s motto is Baking for Autism Awareness.

“We are thrilled with tonight’s results,” Hartington told a crowd of over 100 people who enjoyed the night’s menu and music and showed their generosity by purchasing tickets for the 50/50 raffle and nearly three dozen of other prizes like a gondola ride, dinner at the Coast Guard House, paintings, restaurants gift cards and over-sized wine and liquor baskets. “This was all made possible through donations from businesses all over the state.”

Hartington said almost every food item was donated and “people really stepped forward once they learned we were raising money to help a veteran and his or her family.”

Take, for example, Steve Catanzaro, who owns and operates Catanzaro Food Services of North Providence, who donated all the marinara sauce while Lou Lancellotta, the one-time assistant chef at West Valley Inn who now owns Lancellotta’s in North Providence, donated the pasta.

The layout of the downstairs room and cooking was shared by Lecturing Knight Robert De Reamer and new Lodge 14 member Brian Ashness, who also procured items for the meal and silent auction.

Ann Licciardi, a member of Lodge 14, served as greeter, dinner ticket and raffle ticket seller and also donated three handmade fleece blankets there were among the raffle prizes.

Marianne Beirne did everything from help set up the room and cover table to serve shrimp scampi with bowtie pasta, Caesar salad and Italian bread and rolls.

Likewise, Bob Hartington manned the mixed salad, spaghetti and meatball station while his wife Susan served chicken Alfred with penne pasta, salad, rolls and Elks hospitality with a smile.

Then there were ladies like Debbie Guertin and Krissy St. Pierre who enjoyed the night’s “fantastic food” as much as they did going from table-to-table selling raffle tickets that helped push the night’s revenue raise to more than $2,000 so that Lodge 14 could continue its extraordinary support of the nation’s veterans that’s become a trademark of the Tri-City Elks.

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