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Rutherford Chapter of UNICO
May 19 @ 3:57 pm
Rutherford Chapter of UNICO, the largest Italian American Service Organization in the USA.
The Chapter meets the first Thursday of the month in the St. Mary’s Church Parish Hall at 7:30pm.
UNICO was founded on October 10, 1922 in Waterbury, Connecticut. A group of 15 men, led by Dr. Anthony P. Vastola came together to create what has become a very special and proud organization. It was Dr. Vastola’s dream to create an Italian American Service organization to engage in charitable works, support higher education, and perform patriotic deeds.
The name UNICO was selected as best representing the nature and the character of this fledgling organization. The name is the Italian word for unique, one of a kind. The founders believed that UNICO would be the only one of its kind because it placed service to the community before and above fraternity. At the same time they hoped that the rest of society would come to know and understand the real contributions of Italian Americans to our way of life. Its sole purpose was to unite all Italian Americans and motivate them to become more civic minded. In order to accomplish this, members would understand that they would have to make sacrifices, not for personal gain, but for service to others. In the ensuing years UNICO became an acronym that stood for Unity, Neighborliness, Integrity, Charity, and Opportunity.