When COVID-19 clobbered the Vancouver economy in the spring of 2020, many organizations leaped into action. One of them was the Italian Cultural Centre.

According to executive director Mario Miceli, the organization was able to provide 5,500 meals to families per week with the help of its partners and suppliers, including Growing Chefs! and Fresh Roots.

“Our commercial kitchen was used to prepare the food,” Miceli told the Straight by phone. “Our ballroom was used to package the food. And then we used our parking lot to distribute the food. That’s how we assisted during the pandemic.”

Then when COVID-19 vaccinations became available, the Italian Cultural Centre stepped up again. In partnership with Vancouver Coastal Health, it became a major immunization centre, providing hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses to the community.

“We were the last standing mass-vaccination site in the city, closing down just at the end of March,” Miceli said.

Now, the Italian Cultural Centre is eagerly planning a major fundraiser for the Ukrainian community in the wake of Russia’s war of aggression. It’s working with several organizations—including the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Columbus Meat Market, Holy Eucharist Cathedral, and the Kozak Ukrainian restaurant chain—on the Friday (May 27) event. The sponsors are contributing food.

“We’ll be having an authentic Ukrainian dinner, which will be featured by our chefs here at the Italian Cultural Centre,” Miceli said. “But a lot of this is handmade by volunteers from the Ukrainian community.”

Tickets for the three-course meal go for $75, with all proceeds going to providing relief for people from Ukraine.

“We’ll have a keynote speaker, entertainment, and a display,” Miceli said. “We’re trying to raise money for the community, especially those who are repatriating or are just coming to Canada as displaced people so that they have the support that they need to stay as long as they like here in Canada—or as required.”

It comes just as the Italian Cultural Centre is also preparing to celebrate Italian Heritage Month in June.

One of the free events on the calendar is Festa della Repubblica (Italian National Day) at the Italian Cultural Centre on June 3. It will take place at 7 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom.

There, the City of Vancouver will issue a formal apology to Italian Canadians for its role in the internment of 33 residents of Italian descent in the Second World War and for forcing another 1,800 residents of Italian heritage to register with the police.

The following weekend, comedian Joe Avati will perform two shows at the Italian Cultural Centre. And Father’s Day (June 19) is when the Italian Cultural Centre will be the site of Classica Auto Italiana—a display of Italian automobiles, motorcycles, and scooters. Miceli noted that Italian bicycles will also be shown in the piazza.

Then, on June 25, the centre will host the Italian Food Festival and Mercato from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Food is central to Italian culture, Miceli emphasized, and one of the values of this culture is ensuring that if somebody is hungry, they get fed.

“There’s always an extra chair at an Italian dinner table,” Miceli said. “It’s about recognizing that community is community. It’s not just about your Italian community; it’s the community around you.”