Italian group presents awards

The Chicagoland Italian American Charitable Organization awarded $40,000 in scholarships, honored a Man of the Year and donated $27,500 to area charities Saturday.

Man of the Year Vito Cavallo is a three-term past president of the organization. He has served as an officer since joining the 186-member group. He also is the president of Imperial Service Systems, a cleaning contractor established in 1973.

The Bloomingdale-based organization has provided more than $400,000 in scholarships over the years. Each year, the group also produces more than 400 Thanksgiving baskets including more than 50 pounds of food to families in need.

To raise the money, the group holds two fundraisers each year: Saturday's Man of the Year event and an August golf outing.

"Those two fundraisers raise the money, the rest of the year, we're giving it back," Cavallo said.

The three charities that received donations Saturday are:

• $10,000 to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in name of Lou D'Amico, a member whose grandson suffers from the disease.

• $2,500 to assist an area family. The mother is suffering from terminal cancer.

• $15,000 to family Mason Walker for the ongoing therapy the Villa Park toddler needs as the result of premature birth and having his right foot amputated after suffering an E Coli infection while still in the hospital.

The donation to the Walker family originally was going to be $2,500. However, an impromptu collection and successful event Saturday boosted that amount to $15,000.

"This is a demonstration of how generous our members are," Cavallo said.

During the event at Alta Villa Banquets in Addison, 20 area students also received $2,000 scholarships.

The recipients include: Nicholas Barcelona of Burr Ridge; Joseph Cassettari of Hampshire; Timothy Cresson of Bloomingdale; Frank D'Argenio of Elmhurst; Devin Kelly of Arlington Heights; Hilary Leathem of Geneva; Elizabeth Anne Lee of Carol Stream; John Liberto of Itasca; Sara Maggiore of Lombard; Gia Nararra of Willowbrook; Mary Pagnoni of Bloomingdale; Jennifer Piemonte of Plainfield; Nicholas Plovanich of Roselle; Frank Pope of St. Charles; Ashley Samata of Elmhurst; Tony Schiavone of Schaumburg; Ashley Schultz of Sugar Grove; Michael Shannon of Plainfield; Frank Tardi of Carol Stream; and Bruno Surdo of Lake in the Hills.

A committee picked the recipients from a field of about 75 applicants. The students are not required to be of Italian descent. The scholarships are based on need, grades and community involvement.

The organization has been around since 1998, Cavallo said. Before that, many of the members were part of the Chicago Chapter of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. They broke off and formed their own organization because of a philosophical disagreement, Cavallo said.

"Over the years, we have almost doubled our membership, increased our fund-raising, increased our charitable acts," he said.

For more information about the group, visit www.ciaco.org.