Independent Order of Odd Fellows bring holiday joy to Borrelli’s in East Meadow

Military families from the local communities shared a hot meal on Dec. 3 at Borrelli’s Italian Restaurant in East Meadow. The event was organized by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and along with food, there were plenty of fun activities for children and their families to enjoy at the celebration.

The Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization founded in 1819, is focused on helping those in need, organized the event. The organization’s creed is “visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphans.” The name derives from the types of men who formed the organization.

This is the third year the group held a breakfast for military families from surrounding community, or those who live in the Mitchel Manor military housing development in East Meadow.

Vinny Cafiso, who’s part of the Odd Fellows, said his son’s in the military, which served as a reason for why the breakfast first was held.

“This is what we do,” he said. “We do a lot of charity work, and this is something that we wanted to start and now its our third year doing it.”

In some of the years past, the event has been a bit smaller — the organization has served around 30 kids. But at this year’s event, there was double that, Cafiso said, and with parents, they had around 100 people in Borrelli’s.

The Odd Fellows also extended this year’s breakfast to include members of a Boys & Girls Club — a mentorship program that helps younger members in the community that are disadvantaged in some way, by partnering them with trained staff.

The kids all got a chance to meet Santa and receive a gift. At the military housing complex, the Odd Fellows work with a liaison to learn more about the kids attending the event.

“We have a liaison who takes care of a lot of it which helps us out a tremendous amount,” Cafiso said.

The liaison provides information including the kids’ names, ages, genders, which helps the Odd Fellows purchase the right types of gifts.

“All the kids 12 and under get gifts,” Cafiso said. “They come sit on Santa’s lap, and the older kids will get gift cards.”

The event has changed and grown over the last couple of years.

“It was originally a breakfast and now its kind of like — I call it a brunch fest,” Cafiso said. “It’s a little later and we have, you know, breakfast food and then there’s pizza and pasta and stuff like that. Frank (Borrelli) does a great job, he’s a good friend of mine.”

The Odd Fellows fundraise throughout the year in order to be able to hold events like the breakfast and give back to the community in different ways. At this year’s breakfast, alongside the food, there was also face painting, balloon making and a cotton candy machine — all fun things to help make the morning extra special.