The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society (OLMCS) hosted a spaghetti fundraiser dinner at the Hammonton Independent Volunteer Fire Company No. 2 on March 19. The dinner was to raise funds for the Capella family, who lost their home in a fire in late January. Members of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society, Sons of Italy and Independent Volunteer Fire Company No. 2 worked together to cook spaghetti dinner for the guests in attendance.
Guests who attended purchased a ticket upon entering and can choose either to dine in or take out. Each guest was served with a container of spaghetti and meatballs and a garden salad with Italian dressing as well as a beverage. The Capella family was not in attendance for the entirety of the event but the support for them was strong as members of the Hammonton Canoe Club, New Jersey Assemblyman Michael Torrissi Jr., Atlantic County Clerk Joseph Giralo, members of town council and various Hammonton residents were in attendance for the event.
The Capella family have been original members of the church dating back to 1875. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society President Louis J. Pantalone felt it was important to help out people you care about and find out whatever way possible you can do to help those in need.
“It’s very important to take care of those that you love and to make sure that you do whatever you can to help. We did it with the co-support of the Sons of Italy, both the Sons of Italy and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society did the cooking and we had the graces of the Hammonton Volunteer Fire Company No. 2 to give us the facility to host the event. It’s important to take care of people and they’re very proud people and I told Anthony ‘you have no choice, we’re going to do this for the family,’” Pantalone said.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society member Anthony Ritz felt it was important to host this fundraiser for the Capella family during a challenging time.
“About over a month ago, his house burned down and lost everything and he was a member years ago and he couldn’t attend any longer because he was busy working so we decided to have a fundraiser for him. The Sons of Italy got involved with us by cooking and the Hammonton Fire Company got involved by giving us the hall so it’s a three club event here helping the family,” Ritz said.
Pantalone felt giving back to the Capella family after giving back to the community for so long and wanted to show their support and appreciation for them during a challenging time.
“That represents who they are and how much they gave back to the community. People don’t come out for people they don’t know or have contributed but they’ve contributed immensely to our community and many societies and organizations in Hammonton,” Pantalone said.
