An Italian American philanthropy organization

The Italians of America North Denver began in 2001 when a group of Hot Rod and motorcycle enthusiast friends of Italian descent from the North Denver Area decided that they wanted to create an organization that was centered on community service.

Initially, the group of friends had applied to be a North Denver Charter of the National Sons of Italy organization but it didn’t work out so they did all of the leg work involved in becoming their own 501c3 organization and on March 18, 2002 the Italians of America was officially formed according to the Colorado Secretary of State. 

Fittingly, their first fundraising event was a car show held near 38th and Marshall. One of the founding members, Clyde Weatherford had all of the permits needed to hold a car show registered in his name as he had previously completed all of the paperwork for another clubs car shows each year. When he left that club, the permits went with him so the Italians of America members decided to make use of the permits according to Tom Ligrani another founding member. 

In the early days of the organization, most of the funds raised from their events went to the Tennyson Center for Children. Members would also spend time at the center doing maintenance and landscaping jobs to help the center out. They added Mount Saint Vincent as a benefactor organization shortly after and volunteered to do maintenance needs at their facility as well. Today, the Italians of America has several more benefactor organizations including Food for Thought, Caruso Family Charities, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Sandwich Line, Joyful Journeys and Safe House to name a few. 

To keep their fundraising efforts going year round, the club decided if they hosted a dinner dance of some sort in the fall, they could raise money for their charity organizations outside of the typical car show season as well. Initially the members thought to do a Halloween themed dance but decided that a Hot Rodders Ball would be better suited to their organization. The first year it was just hamburgers and hotdogs in the parking lot with a mini car show and music but the following year it grew to an all out 50’s themed indoors sit down dinner and dance. According to Tom Ligrani, his wife Jeanie and another member who was an Events coordinator in Denver went all out and turned the hall into a 50’s themed soda shop and sock hop complete with card board cut outs of Hollywood icons from the era. The Rodders Ball has been happening as a yearly fundraising event ever since. 

In 2009 the group was awarded a national Philanthropy award for Outstanding Service Organization for all of their efforts benefiting the Tennyson Center for Children. It was complete with members getting to attend a televised gala! 

The IOA (Italians of America) logo was created by Rich Schiavone with input from the other founding members. The Red Lion breaking through the wall represents the Italian immigrants breaking free from the life of extreme poverty that they faced in Italy and the Italian and American flags represent the pride of holding onto their heritage and customs while embracing the opportunity of new life in America. The red Lion has also been an emblem of car enthusiasts in the North Denver area for decades so it was a fitting representation of the members. 

The IOA group meets monthly on the third Thursday of the month. The members typically share a pot luck dinner and social hour prior to beginning the meeting and going over organization business. While the organization was born from a group of Italian Americans, you actually don’t even have to be of Italian descent to be a member of the group. A love of the Italian American culture and wanting to make a difference in the community is what they like to see in their members.