Despite COVID-19 restrictions, the Nelson Italian-Canadian Society (Society) completed its first Italian Sausage Fundraiser last month with nearly 450 online orders.
The Society, along with other community groups, has not been able to organize their traditional fundraising events due to the COVID pandemic.
For the Society, this meant they couldn’t host their annual Nelson Road Kings Car Show Italian sausage BBQ. So they decided to fundraise by selling their popular fresh sausages instead.
Their online pre-sales smashed the expectations of the Society directors, leading them and a group of a dozen Society volunteers to produce close to 2,300 mild and hot Italian sausages on the Aug. 8 and Aug. 9 weekend.
Society President Paul Boscariol was thrilled with the community response to the fundraiser, saying “I am always amazed at the amount of support the people in the Nelson area provide to community groups like ours. The event reached beyond Nelson, with some customers coming from Trail and Castlegar to pick up their orders.”
On the evening of Aug. 9, the aroma of BBQ Italian sausages was present in the air in and around Nelson as customers were eager to sample the fresh savoury sausages.
The funds raised by this event will go toward two Nelson Italian-Canadian Society Scholarships presented to recent LVR Grads while the rest will be allocated to other charitable commitments the Society has in the community.
The Society expressed their gratitude for the support of several local businesses operating in Nelson, Trail and the Kootenay Boundary.
“The Nelson Italian Canadian Society is very grateful to the following businesses for their support in the recent Italian Sausage Fundraiser: Ferraro Foods Trail, Crag Holdings Ltd, Nelson, Canada Safeway, Save-On-Foods, Fisherman’s Market Nelson, The Nelson Daily, EZ Rock Kootenay-Boundary 106.9 FM Nelson, Kootenay Co-op Radio 93.5 FM Nelson, Vince DeVito Shoes, Arcovio Electric.
“We would also like to thank all the wonderful people who purchased all the sausages and made this a very successful fundraiser,” said Boscariol.
Boosted by the success of the sausage fundraiser, and with wine making season quickly approaching, the Society is investigating options relating to ordering California wine grapes and juice as a possible fundraiser.
For people interested in more information about ordering grapes or juice, email nelsonitaliancanadiansociety@gmail.com.
Details will also be available on the Society’s Facebook page: @NelsonItalianCanadianSociety.