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May 14,2006 - May 21,2006 |
Villa Colombo never grows old
Historic Toronto retirement home celebrates 30th anniversary
By Alan Patarga
Originally Published: 2006-04-30
These have been "Thirty years of love." But also thiry years of commitment, volunteerism, attention and care for seniors. Also, thiry years of Italian-Canadian pride.
Undoubtedly, Villa Colombo is all this. And all this was celebrated, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of this historic retirement home on Playfair Avenue. The evening, held in Sala Caboto at the Villa, had many guests, mostly politicians and diplomats, but its protagonists were the residents of Villa Colombo, such as Luigi Gigante, 98 years old, who came to Canada directly from Calabria 30 years ago. Since then, Luigi - who, despite his age, stood up for the national anthems - has always been a resident of Villa Colombo. "It was the only seniors home where Italian was spoken," explained his daughter Rosa Acadi, who had to face the problem of finding Dad a place suitable for easing his tough transition from a country to another.
Mr. Gigante's story is rather emblematic, and evidence that such a facility was sorely needed three decades ago, as current Villa Colombo chairman Ralph Grittani underscored in his speech. "In 1976," he explained, "we started with a small dream: giving a home to our seniors. That dream later grew with many other activities, becoming a success story. What cannot be denied is that Villa Colombo addressed a specific need of the Italian-Canadian community: our 400 residents and their reasons for choosing to live here are proof enough of this. Over these years we have tried to offer quality care and new services, also because seniors have new needs: just think that in '76 the average age of our residents was 72 years; nowadays it is 82 years."
Many personalities attended the birthday party - which included a cake, of course - for Villa Colombo: former Ontario Premier Bill Davis; Federal Heritage minister Bev Oda; Provincial ministers Mike Colle and Joe Cordiano; former minister - and Liberal Leader candidate - Joe Volpe; Vaughan mayor Michael Di Biase; Toronto city councillor and TTC chairman Howard Moscoe; and consul general of Italy in Toronto Emanuele Punzo. All of them expressed their sincere thanks to Villa Colombo officials for the work done over these first 30 years.
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