[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9442-S9443]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MUTUO CLUB OF BARRE, VT

 Mr. LEAHY. Mutuo Soccorso. In Italian, it means society of 
mutual aid. But for my Italian immigrant grandfather who worked in the 
granite quarries of Barre and South Ryegate, VT, it meant much, much 
more.
  It meant financial security in the days before Social Security and 
Medicare. It meant affordable health care when they could not afford 
health insurance. It meant they had a second family when their families 
were thousands of miles away in their homeland. To Peter and Vincenza 
Zambon, my grandparents, Mutuo Soccorso meant the Mutuo Club of Barre, 
VT.
  Mr. President, I am proud to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Mutuo 
Club, the Italian-American club of central Vermont. Since 1906, the 
Mutuo Club has represented the finest values of our immigrant 
heritage--a special sense of community and friendship.
  The Mutuo Club was first established as an offspring of the old 
society clubs in Italy during the 19th century. Members of the Mutuo 
paid so much a week into a common fund to help when they and their 
families got sick. The Mutuo fund helped pay the doctor and hospital

[[Page S9443]]

bills. Members of the Mutuo pulled together to help each other. Each 
member was in effect his brother's keeper.
  When my grandfather came to Vermont from Italy, he went to the 
granite quarries to earn a modest living. Life was not easy--tough 
work, low pay, and health hazards. But in this foreign land, he had the 
Mutuo Club as a special community to share friendships in good times 
and a helping hand in bad times.
  I remember as a small child walking with my grandfather down the 
streets of downtown Barre. He would often stop in the street to visit 
with fellow Mutuo Club members. They would tell stories, plan to help 
each other, or just learn the latest joke. I remember sensing a special 
bond of community and friendship between my grandfather and the other 
Italian-Americans of the Mutuo Club.
  Now, the Mutuo Club is open to Americans of all nationalities. And 
that same special bond of community and friendship enjoyed by my 
grandfather is still shared by members of the Mutuo Club today.
  Mr. President, the Mutuo Club is a living tribute to that special 
bond. In celebrating the Mutuo Club's 90th birthday, we celebrate that 
special sense of community and friendship shared by the Mutuo Club 
members of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

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