I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Now that we are in the new year we are

approaching the busiest time period for our chapter. We have many important events

scheduled during the next six months. You can read about some of them in this newsletter.

To continue my comments on UNICO's anti bias work from the last

newsletter I wanted to mention to you that last fall our Board of Directors

voted to officially join the Italian American One Voice Coalition. This

organization was founded a few years ago by our national anti bias

committee chairman Dr. Manny Alfano and others to become the only

organization in America whose mission is strictly to promote a positive

image of Italian Americans in the media and to fight discrimination, bias, and slander against

Italians and our culture whenever and wherever it appears. The cost of membership is $100

per year for an organization and $60 per year for an individual. By becoming a member as

an organization we have joined other UNICO chapters from around the country as well as

individuals in funding and supporting this important work. If you would like to learn more

about the coalition and its work you can go to their website at IAOVC. org. I know you will

find it interesting and informative.

One of the things the coalition has been very concerned about is the

increasing attacks against Columbus Day. Many municipalities and

school systems have eliminated the Columbus Day holiday completely

and/or have replaced it with "Indigenous Peoples Day" based on false

narratives of Columbus such as claims that he enslaved the natives of

the Americas. These claims are patently untrue but have gain traction

in recent years. Indeed last fall the Board of Education in Bridgeport

voted to eliminate the Columbus Day holiday. If anyone of you ever learns of attempts to

downgrade or eliminate the Columbus Day holiday in our area please let me so I can get

the word out to other organizations and activists around the state. We are not against a

day being set aside to honor Indigenous People but we are against attacking and what he

represents to us and all other immigrants who came to North America to start a new life.

I hope to see you all at our next meeting this coming Tuesday.

~Frank

LETTER FROM PRESIDENT FRANK TRAVISANO

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Chapter Newsletter

January 2016

“Service Above Self”

www.waterburyUNICO.com

WaterburyUNICO@yahoo.com

www.facebook.com/WaterburyUNICO

Don’t Forget….Our January Dinner Meeting will be held on

Tuesday, January 26th in the Our Lady of Lourdes Church Hall!!

UNICO CAR MAGNET Are you looking for a way to show others that you are a member of the largest

Italian-American Service Organization in the USA???? UNICO National sells Magnetic

Stickers for your vehicles. Our Chapter is placing a group order

and invite you to join us!! Cost is $5.00 . If you want to

participate, reply by February 9th. You can send checks, payable

to UNICO National, to PO Box 933— Waterbury, CT 0672.1.

VOLUNTEER THANK YOU Special thanks are extended to our UNICANS who

helped out at the WARC Christmas Party and Ringing

the Bell for Salvation Army. We are blessed to have

committed members who took time out of their

schedule to assist those in need.

Don’t forget to bring your

pennies & any loose

change for St.

Vincent de Paul to our

next meeting.

Page 2 WATERBURY CHAPTER OF UNICO NATIONAL

UNICO MEMORABILIA UNICO National sells a number of items on line with the UNICO Insignia. Locally,

Signatures on South Main Street in Waterbury has our “Waterbury UNICO” logo

available for embroidery. You can bring your own shirt or

purchase one from there. It’s a great way to show your

UNICO Pride! Questions? Contact Francine Nido at

UNICOdoll@gmail.com.

On January 27th , the Palace Theater in Waterbury presents An Intimate

Conversation with Lidia Bastianich: Host of Public Television’s "Lidia’s Kitchen”.

Join Lidia Bastianich, for an evening of conversation and storytelling

celebrating our love of Italian food. The evening will be moderated by

Faith Middleton of heard on WNPR and WNPR.org.

Use code UNICO when you order tickets and

our Chapter will receive $5.00 from each sale.

PUBLIC RELATIONS Our Chapter is looking for someone to serve as Public

Relations Chair to handle getting articles/photos into

ComUNICO and local publications. Right now, Event Chairs are responsible for

getting the photos and article together, but we need one person to be the point

person to send the information to the news outlets.

Interested? Talk to President Travisano for more info!!

ITALIAN CORNED BEEF DINNER

It’s Italian Corned Beef Dinner Time!! Tickets will be available at the January meeting and

then will be mailed to all members. Please, please, please—sell as many as you can! This is

our major fundraiser and we need everyone’s support. Also—note the change in venue and

price from last year. We are also looking for items for our raffle table. Letters are available

to give to local vendors. Most importantly, we will need volunteers that evening. Please

send an email to Waterbury UNICO@yahoo.com to let us know what time on the 9th

you’re available.

Did you know

that at our

Christmas

Party we

collected 65

packs of

diapers and 50

packs of wipes

for donation to

the Waterbury

Diaper Bank

operated by

Catholic

Charities???

Page 3 JANUARY 2016

Waterbury Chapter of UNICO National

PO Box 933 Waterbury, CT 06721

Waterbury—The Birthplace of UNICO

Our next meeting is

Tuesday, January 26th

and it will take place at

Our Lady of Lourdes

Church Hall at 6:30pm.

Catering by D’Amelio’s

Italian Eatery.

$25.00 per Person

This is the District Meeting

so we are expecting a few

members from CT-I

Chapters to join us.

Tom Vaughan from the

Wethersfield Chapter and

current 1st Vice President

for UNICO National

will also join us to discuss

what’s happening

on a National Level

and update us on his rise

to Presidency.

Since we are having thie

meeting catered, we need a

count of attendees so we’re

sure to have anough food .

Please reply with your

intent to attend by

Monday, January 25th to

WaterburyUNICO@yahoo.com.

Menu includes:

antipasto, 2 pastas,

escarole & beans,

meatballs, eggplant parm,

sausage & peppers,

baked chicken & salad.

Don’t Forget!!!

founded by Gerard J. Somma in 1939 with customers nationwide & overseas

located on Scott Road since 1957

www.sommatool.com

Manufacturers of tooling

for the Precision Turned Parts Industry

109 Scott Road Waterbury, CT 06705

JOHN A. SALERNO, M.D.

INTERNAL MEDICINE

573-0300

60 WESTWOOD AVE

WATERBURY,CT 06708

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

Tim Clark, Realtor Cell-203-592-5201

timmclark@optimum.net

Proud to be a member of Waterbury UNICO

94 Years of “ Service Above Self ”

The Largest Italian-American Service Organization

Founded in Waterbury, CT 1922

SUPPORT OUR

SPONSORS

Integral Psychiatric Services

203-430-0315

Adver�se your

business with us

Monthly Meeting Schedule (Sept-June) Board of Directors – 2nd Tuesday 6:45 pm - Our Lady of Lourdes Church Hall

Regular Dinner Meeting– 4th Tuesday - 6:30 pm - Juniper’s Restaurant

Want informa�on included in the next newsle�er? Care to receive the newsle�er electronically?

Contact us at waterburyunico@yahoo.com

Memorial Section

Waterbury Chapter of UNICO National Check out our website

www.waterburyunico.com

Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WaterburyUnico

Contact us at waterburyunico@yahoo.com

In Loving Memory to our parents:

Charles and Louise Gerace

Ralph and Lillian Santopietro

~ With love from Bob &Marilyn

In Memory of my Grandparents:

Giovanni “John” and Theresa Meoni Gelada

Giocondino and Amelia Fusco D’Amico Santopietro

~With Love, your grandson, Louis C. Gelada Jr.

In Memory of my parents:

William and Dora Samela

~From Bianca Daniels