FIERI

I attended my first FIERI event in 2006 the Saturday before Thanksgiving — just shy of a year ago. It was all over from there.
What is FIERI? In my words… it is a young Italian group — is everyone Italian? no. BUT it is safe to say they love the Italian Culture. The bases of the group (in their words) is to preserve, promote and celebrate the Italian Culture. It is an international organization (actually a 501©3 non-​profit) but didn’t ‘officially’ become a chapter until January 2007.
I remember walking into my first event knowing 1 person — and I felt at such ease… everyone I met was easy to talk to and totally genuine and it was the beginning of a fun fun time.
So I don’t think this is limited to Italian Families… but I grew up in the central valley and my parents and grandparents belonged to a number of social Italian clubs… that now my brothers belong to — but I am in the ‘big city’ and can’t get home for the events I cherished as a kid… so I guess FIERI was like going home, but being able to take a cab :)
I have already been long winded… so here is a list of things I have done with FIERI this year (btw… there were other events I didn’t attend that aren’t listed…)
–Carnavale (think Mardi Gras — Venetian Style)
–Wine Tasting Tour of Napa/​Sonoma
–Volunteering at Glide Memorial
–North Beach Food Crawl (think Bar Crawl… with Italian Food!)
–Bocce Tournament
–Italian Heritage Night @ the Giants Game — yes the night of #756!
–Ferragusto (End of Summer Celebration)
Oh yeah and the Boss of the Sauce!
It has been a FUN year — and I look forward to seeing the organization GROW in 2008!