Lee with IACL Guardian Angel Fall Harvest Fest volunteers.


On Sunday, September 25, 2022, a group of devoted people organized an event for the benefit of St. Louis Center. This successful, annual event, hosted by The Italian American Club of Livonia (IACL), gave guests a chance to enjoy a delicious dinner, music, speed painting, a silent auction, a wine pull, and other opportunities to give. Before the dinner, Fr. Enzo celebrated Mass in the lower level of the Banquet Center.

After Mass, guests had the chance to bid on silent auction items and baskets, put their name in a raffle drawing for $3,000 worth of liquor, wine, glasses, and so on, partake in the wine pull, or the drawing for a pair of diamond earrings. The silent auction featured expensive wines, festive baskets, a beer advent calendar, lottery tickets, and so much more. There was also a live auction, hosted by Joe Merkel, where guests could make donations toward a new generator for St. Louis Center. Each year, a special project is chosen to receive proceeds from the live auction.

Guests also enjoyed a delicious Italian inspired dinner in the ballroom, prepared by the Italian American Banquet and Conference Center’s staff. Residents from the Center also joined guests. They got a chance to see friends that they see every year at these events, and they enjoyed the festivities.

Fr. Enzo presented Alice Rotondo the St. Louis Guanella Humanitarian Award for her charitable works. She has been a long time supporter of St. Louis Center, and she makes events like the Fall Harvest Festival possible.

After most of the festivities, David Santia came to the front to show his speed painting talents. He created three painting – a Beatles portrait, a horse painting, and the Detroit Tigers “D.” After his creations were complete, Joe Merkel auctioned them off. Then, Pino Marelli joined the stage to finish the event out with upbeat music and dancing.

This year marked the 26th year of the IACL hosted event. Sandy Pulice led the preparations and hosted the day of. St. Louis Center thanks her and her team for pulling together a beautifully successful event!


This article appears in the Fall 2022 issue of St. Louis Spirit newsletter.

You can read it online or download the issue in its entirety here.


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