Last month Mike and I had a great time at a charity event for the Ron Buonauro Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to raise funds to donate to other nonprofits in his name. Ron founded Café Buonaro’s more than 22 years ago where he was known for his generous smile, making the rounds to personally greet every customer and hosting charity events. Ron died of cancer in 2008. Today his family continues his tradition of supporting local charities via the foundation.
For the very first time, we had a “dinner” that was purchased at the Ron Buonauro Memorial Foundation Auction by Judy Ellertson who invited 18 of her family and friends to have dinner at Café Buonaro’s at Fifth Avenue Station with the Nuns from St. Patrick’s Residence.
The foundation members cooked and served the food for the 24 people in attendance.
It was a blast! Hey, girls – I know this is hard to believe, but the men did all the cooking! And they did a great job!
Four of the Carmelite nuns from St. Patrick’s Residence joined us, too. The nuns work harder that anyone we know in taking care of the Aged and the Infirmed. So it was great to include them in a casual, fun event that just recognized them for doing what they do.
(One of Ron’s sisters and Mike’s Mom lived at St. Pat’s – and the nuns took wonderful care of them.)
But to get back to our event… We served drinks and appetizers at the beginning and then moved into the restaurant for a great meal. Casey’s Foods donated beef tenderloin and pork crown roasts. Café Buonaro’s provided salad, bread, the infamous baked spaghetti and desserts.
We have to say, the food was great, but the laughter and interaction with everyone was even better. We did not know the entire group that came for the dinner, but it was so great to see everyone talk and laugh and get to know each other.
Of course, the best items were the gifts from the foundation that were donated to St. Patrick’s Residence and also to another of Ron’s favorite charities – the YMCA Strong Kids program. It felt great!
