Ladies’ Auxiliary

The Società Caruso Ladies’ Auxiliary was founded in 1948 and has been actively involved in the community over the past several decades and accomplished many projects throughout the seasons. Our main objective in the community is to promote our Italian Culture and Heritage. The primary beneficiary of our fundraising is the Northeastern Ontario Cancer Centre, but we do send donations to other organizations such as the Canadian Diabetes Association, Heart & Stroke, Arthritis Society and many more.

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Our ladies work well, hand in hand, with the main members of the Società Caruso. The ladies assist and volunteer their time helping out with all club functions when asked. We have also donated funds and numerous items to our society over the past several years; for example, office equipment, serving supplies for the kitchen, and kitchen equipment.

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Our year of events starts with our Annual Pot Luck Supper. This is held in February and is a great way to bring in new members. Our ladies cook a favourite dish and the Auxiliary offers  Polenta and Toccio to our members. This traditional Italian dish is a favourite with our members. We enjoy an evening of friendship, and food and then close with our general meeting.

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We put many long hours in preparation for our annual Palm Sunday Tea. This is a popular event in the community. It’s very common to see lineups at the door to get in! Our ladies prepare baking and also offer homemade pasta, crostoli, sauce and Easter bread for sale. The sewing group works from January until the Tea, making many items for sale. No one can resist the handiwork of our ladies. Then, the month of May quickly approaches and instead of having a regular monthly meeting in May, we host a Mother & Daughter Banquet. Every year we honour a woman in our Auxiliary by presenting them with the Woman of the Year Award. We also honour our newest Life Members. It is an opportunity for members to spend some time together socializing over an exquisite Italian dinner prepared by our chef and to enjoy some light entertainment as well.

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Next, we prepare for the Italian Festival, held for 4 days with Canada Day kicking off the festivities. This fun-filled event shares our Italian culture and heritage with the community. Again, a great deal of preparation and planning is involved for this event. We make crostoli for sale, and we bake and work the Caruso booth at the Multicultural Celebration on Canada Day and at the Italian Food Fair during the Italian Festival. The Ladies’ Auxiliary runs the Pesca during the whole 4 days of the Italian Festival.

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Once summer has ended and Fall is just around the corner, we finally have a chance to relax for a little while. That is, we can rest until our September meeting when we discuss the Northern Ontario Italian Ladies Auxiliaries Convention and the trip to the hosting club. It is a convention that we are proud to be a part of. It is an exhilarating weekend spent with Auxiliary members from the Italian Auxiliaries of Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, Copper Cliff,  and North Bay. It is a weekend filled with nothing but Italian entertainment, food, history, culture and dance. It is a time when organizations can get together to discuss ways to promote and share their culture within their own cities and pool ideas together on ways to attract new, energetic members.

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October brings our Annual Gnocchi & Chicken Dinner. This has always been a very successful event and a fantastic fundraiser for us.

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The Ladies' Auxiliary is very proud to be a part of the Società Caruso and we always look forward to working with them year after year in promoting our Italian culture and heritage throughout the community.