June 2022 Membership Update | |
Remembering
Jacki Lovi Sundheim
Highwood Bocce Club mourns the loss of Jacki Lovi Sundheim, who died in the July 4th parade shooting. Jacki and her husband Bruce have been active and cherished participants in our mixed leagues for more than a year. Jacki was a lifetime and active community member who touched so many people with her generosity and compassion. She was a treasured friend to many, and all who met her even briefly knew her to be a kind, giving person. Our Club and our community will miss her dearly.
May her memory be a blessing.
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HBC Supports Highland Park
This past week has been a difficult one for the entire community, and our Club and its members have been impacted and are responding to the July 4th tragedy. Donna Pieracci made dinner for Bruce, his daughter Leah and 30-40 Sundheim family members and friends during their mourning period. The Club has also arranged to make dinner for the first responders in the coming weeks to show our support and appreciation. If you would like to make a donation in support of the victims, please consider a donation through the Highland Park Community Foundation which is coordinating donations for the City of Highland Park.
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Congratulations to HBC National Team
Congratulations to the Highwood Bocce's National Team's 15 competitors. Ten athletes returned home with 9 medals in 6 events. Two gold medalists (Amy Lazzaretti and Miles Russell) qualified for the Bocce World Cup in Turkey to be held in November of this year. This group trained long and hard and many gave selflessly of their own time to make those around them better. Bravo to each of you. THANK YOU to so many. To the Sons of Italy Methuen for hosting this year's National Tournament. We know a tremendous amount of volunteer hours make the event possible and Highwood thanks you for a wonderful experience. Special thanks to Lio Gianotti for donating his time and expertise to coach and development the team. Lio is the only person I know that could have done this, and done it so well. HBC thanks the American Bocce Company for their sponsorship, but perhaps more importantly for introducing many of these athletes to our Club and being such amazing partners in the promotion of this sport.
And finally, I want to thank all the HBC members and board for both the financial and moral support of this team, and of our amazing Club overall.
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Women's PRV Singles
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Amy Lazzaretti, Gold
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Lauren McDermott, Silver
Mixed Doubles PRV
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Amy Lazzaretti/Miles Russell, Gold (World qualifier, Turkey)
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Lauren McDermott/Maurizio Perrelli, Bronze
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Open A
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Andy Zimmerman, Alex Gara, Vito Buonsante, Milan Tomic, Bronze
Men's Doubles PRV
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Gordon Gruenes/Danko Dykyj, Silver
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Alex Gara/Milan Tomic, Bronze
Men's Precision Shooting
- Andy Zimmerman, Gold
- Julian Batula, Bronze
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Highwood Awarded 2023 National Competition
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2023…We achieved another major milestone when the United States Bocce Federation (USBF) Board accepted our bid to host the 2023 Nationals Championship! The HBC will host the best bocce players from around the country for a full range of competitive events in June 2023. This gives us all an opportunity to showcase our club, city, and members. This will require significant planning and lots of work. I will ask for many to help and will be grateful for any volunteers. Thank you in advance for your support!
- Tom Holleman, President
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General Membership Meeting
All members are invited to the quarterly general membership meeting,
Sunday, July 13 at 3:30 p.m., in the dining room.
Pizza will be served after the meeting.
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Friday Night Member Dinner and Entertainment | Friday, July 15, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. the club will host a dinner with entertainment provided by well-known talent Bill Pantle, who will share the songs of Frank Sinatra, (entertainment starts 7:30 p.m.). Bill has been entertaining crowds for a decade and is Chicagoland's premiere Frank Sinatra Tribute. The dinner menu includes pasta fritta and pasta primavera with Caesar salad and assorted desserts. Cost is $25 per person, members and guests welcome. | |
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Club News and Announcements | |
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Improving and maintaining our Club is important. One of the first steps the Board took in January was to prioritize the work we felt was important to get done. Thanks to many member volunteers and help from our member-owned businesses we have made great progress in the first 6 months.
General Facility
- Replaced court windows providing better ventilation, insulation, and security
- Replaced air vents on the roof over courts improving ventilation and cooling
- Replaced two broken sump pumps to prevent flooding
- Added exit sign to the basement, required for fire safety
- Repaired outside exit door from dining room
- Fixed sink in custodial closet that had not been operational in years
- Replaced sand and repainted lines on courts, which hadn't been done since pre-pandemic
- Refreshed outdoor courts and made ready for summer use
- Replaced office mailbox to eliminate sharp edges and risk of injury
- Fixed cracked tile in the center entrance to courts
- Fixed gate for garbage dumpsters outside
Kitchen and Bar
- Replace bar window improving safety and ease of use
- Purchased stand-up freezer for kitchen allowing for greater food storage, bulk purchases to cut down food costs and save time for kitchen staff
- Purchased can rack to improve food storage and space utilization
- Purchased coffee maker to better serve parties with large numbers of people
Coming Up
- Replace windows with broken glass and seals in the dining room
- Install baseboard in bar and card room
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Thank You to Our Volunteers, January-June, 2022 | |
We are a volunteer-led organization and we appreciate the work of many who make our operations possible. Following are volunteers from January - June 2022. Thank you for all that you do for our Club. If your name was mistakenly omitted, please notify Tom Holleman at highwoodbocceclub@gmail.com. | |
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Alexander, TJ
Amidei, Assunta
Amidei, Judy
Bacci, Frank
Bacci, Jon
Batula, Julian
Benassi, Alba
Beresid, Dave
Bernardi, Pino
Bertucci, Bruce
Biondi, Angelo
Biondi, Roger
Biondi, Tony
Bock, Nancy
Bolek, Barry
Bolek, Lil
Brogi, Luciano
Buonsante, Vito
Carani, Carl
Carani, Nancy
Cinqui, Monica
Corrigan, John
Davies, Gordon
Divagno, Claudio
Divagno, Tina
Divagno, Tony
Dykyj, Danko
Esposito, Jennifer
Falzone, Elizabeth
Fiori, Theresa
Fontanini, Mary
Gara, Alex
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Garrity, Tom
Giannetti, Paolo
Giannotti, Lio
Giardina, Tim
Grandi, Jack
Gruenes, Gordon
Hawari, Liz
Holleman, Michelle
Holleman, Tom
Hospodarsky, Lucy
Innocenzi, Lenny
Kowalenko, Emma
La Barbera, Anthony
Lenzi, Sara
Lenzi, Stefanie
Loacker, Lothar
Lomoro, Frank
Lorigo, Wilma
Lunardi, Luigi
Marsiglio, Domenica
Masini, Romana
Massello, Dave
McCraren, Jane
Merucci, Josie
Milani, Settimio
Mixter, Brandon
Mordini, Luci
Mordini, Robert
Musik, Maria
Niebling, DeeDee
Ori, Norma
Ori, Walter
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Pasquesi, Joe
Pasquesi, Maria
Pasquesi, Mary
Peddle, Heidi
Pedersen, Jerry
Pedersen, Mary Ann
Perrelli, Maurizio
Perrelli, Paola
Perrelli, Raffaella
Picchietti, Maria
Picchietti, Vic
Pieracci, Henry
Pieracci, Cristina
Pieracci, Donna
Pieracci, Peter
Pignatari, Tom
Puccio, Mike
Puccio, Tina
Roshto, Irene
Russell, Miles
Sheridan, Shelli
Teslik, Joe
Thornberry, Steve
Tolari, Tim
Ugolini, Dominic
Van Overbeek, Hans
Van Overbeek, Julie
Venturi, Bridget
Venturi, Vivi
Wiswald, Anthony
Zimmerman, Andy
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Bar Expands Offerings
The HBC Bar is pleased to announce expanded offerings with premium wines from Pazzo di Vino, Highwood's very own micro-winery and wine bar, owned by Club Member Larry DiVito. A Cabernet and Zinfandel will be available at $5 per glass or $24 per bottle. The bar will also feature Truly hard seltzers.
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2022-2023 Membership Renewal Past Due | |
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The Club's membership year runs from July 1 to June 30 each year (this changed during COVID when we extended memberships by 6 months). If you have not already renewed, your membership is now past due. If you do not renew by July 31, 2022, your fob will be turned off and you will need to pay the new member initiation fee to rejoin. There are several ways to renew:
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ONLINE – Go to www.highwoodbocce.com and select the Membership menu item. Follow the link for membership renewal and select the correct membership type.
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CREDIT CARD - Pay using your credit card (MasterCard or Visa) at the bar.
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CHECK - Make a check out to Highwood Bocce Club. Mail it to the Club (440 Bank Lane Highwood, IL 60040), give directly to the bartender, or give it personally to Tom Holleman or Mary Ann Pedersen.
Initiation Fee
If you do not renew by July 31, 2022, and choose to renew in the future, you will be treated as a new member. New members must pay a one-time initiation fee ($125 for singles, $200 for couples). All new members pay this fee beginning January 2022. You must maintain continuous membership to avoid paying the initiation fee.
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Club Membership Sets Record | The 2021/2022 membership year, which ended June 30, set membership records. Following a drop during 2020's COVID year when the Club was closed and memberships were extended an additional six months, the Club has come roaring back with a substantial increase in membership and a 99% increase over membership in 2013. | |
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Wednesday Night OUTDOOR Men's Summer League
We are going to take advantage of the wonderful outdoor courts and summer Highwood weather to launch a new 10-week Wednesday Men's Outdoor league starting July 20th.
With only 2 courts there will be two different start times. The first games will start at 6:30 p.m. and end at 8:15 p.m. The second set of games will start at 8:15 p.m.
RSVP with a team (or as an individual or pair) to reserve your spot by contacting Steve Thornberry at stevethornberry@comcast.net.
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Thursday Night INDOOR Mixed Summer League
We are starting a new, 8-week Mixed Indoor Thursday league starting July 21st. Players of all skill levels are welcome - beginner and intermediate players, in particular, are encouraged.
Understanding summer is a busy time for all, our start time will be 7:30 p.m. and each night will be 3 games to 9 points instead of 12. Also, we are not allowing any "super" teams and reserve the right to amend or reject teams if they are considered too dominant.
Please contact Tom Holleman at tomho@yahoo.com if you are interested in participating.
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Club Events Calendar Online
A comprehensive club calendar showing all member events and league dates is now available on the website. The calendar also shows when private events are scheduled so members can understand court and club availability.
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Operating Hours
All members have access to the
Club via their key fob from
6 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week.
Summer Bar Hours
The bar welcomes members from 6:30 p.m. to closing (usually between 10-12 p.m.) Tuesday - Friday (closed Monday in the summer), Sunday hours, 12-6 p.m.
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Stay Up-to-Date
The bulletin board in the cardroom and the digital display in the court area are updated regularly with membership, financial, memorial, and business information.
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Plan Your Event
The Club is a great place to host a party with excellent food, reasonable rates, and attentive service. The Banquet Room has recently been repainted and is ready to welcome your group.
Donna Pieracci is the primary point of contact for booking parties. She and her staff handle all aspects of party planning, menu selection,
set-up, etc.
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Contact Donna at 847-946-7838 or dmpieracci16@gmail.com.
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HBC Member-Owned Business Spotlight | |
A core priority for the Club is to support Member-Owned/Operated businesses. Each issue of Le Notizie will highlight a business owned/operated by a club member. | |
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This month we are spotlighting Lorenzo (Larry) DiVito and his business Pazzo di Vino, Highwood's one-of-a-kind Micro-Winery & Wine Bar. At Pazzo di Vino they crush, ferment, age and bottle their wine on site. Boasting a beautiful outdoor patio, rustic tasting room, artistic gallery room, and cozy hearth room -- it's the perfect place to take in live music or just enjoy some crazy good wine while relaxing with friends. Pazzo also offers a tasty variety of small plates.
Larry is a long-time member and supporter of the Club, playing in multiple leagues including for the Roosters in the Thursday men's winter league.
The HBC now offers Pazzo di Vino wines. Reasonably priced and a step or two above our current wine offerings, we are proud to bring Larry's wines to you directly! Be sure to ask for them at the bar.
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Above: Larry DiVito of Pazzo di Vino at the Club. Below: Larry in the cellar where wines are aged in Oak barrels and the famous Pazzo Mobile Wine Truck. | |
The Club recently welcomed the following new members: | |
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Mary & Ken Ainger
Scott Argie
Newt Briggs
Maria Brunetti
Joseph Nebolsky De Ochoa
Abbi Estrada
Judy & James Gibbs
Sheri Henkel
Nida Khoutakoun
Ryan Kiefer
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Dave Kordik
Nick Kroll
Molly Oster
Aaron Schuenemann
Maddie Smith
Ken Snyder
Clara Tortorici
Dean and Rachael Ulizio
Peter Upfold
Jeff Wyke
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The Club honors the memories of our members and their loved ones. The bulletin board in the card room has space to place memorial cards, and news of a loss can be shared with Peter Pieracci who will share the information with our members.
Anita Marie Ori
Jacki Lovi Sundheim
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Officers
President
Tom Holleman
Vice President
Peter Pieracci
Treasurer
Heidi Peddle
Recording Secretary
Tim Tolari
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Trustees
Frank Bacci
Tony Biondi
Bruce Bertucci
Paolo Giannetti
Lenny Innocenzi
Mary Ann Pedersen
Miles Russell
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