A Joyful Spirit

 I want to tell you about my friend Connie, a most remarkable lady.  She along with her husband have been Home Fellowship Leaders in our church for over 25 years.  This means they invite up to 20 people into their home each month for a sit-down dinner and a night of fellowsip, cooking  a large amount of this food herself.

 Connie also visits people in the hospital or when they are ill at home and takes meals for them to  enjoy.  She takes them for doctor's appointments and even to the Beauty Salon.  Two or three weeks before Christmas she is busy in her kitchen making candy, baking cakes and cookies that she gives to people who are unable to bake, as well as friends  and family.  She also serves her church in many others areas, where ever she is needed. 

  On top of all this she keeps a beautiful home and a well maintained yard filled with shrubs, plants and flowers.  To sit on her back patio with a cold glass of lemonade and view her backyard is a treat.

Connie serves people with a joyful spirit.  What a wonderful example she is for all of us to follow.

Patricia Brown - Arkansas

Help us spread the word!

We'd love to reward more of these everyday good people

with some of the good stuff !

See sidebar for details....

What do Fabio, Rohan Marley and Roba Dolce have in Common?

They all attended  Expo West in California! 

 FABIO!!!  with Joanna and Courtney of Roba Dolce

Rohan Marley and James Olerio, our jingle creator & singer!!

This was our first all natural foods show taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center.  Picture two floors filled to capacity with vendors, celebrities and thousands of people sampling great all natural foods. 

Roba Dolce was one of the few booths with a constant line!  After  just one taste we heard
 "This is amazing!"  "OH MY Gosh!"  "WOW!" 
 and "Where can I get this?!"  

We pride ourselves on generous samples, as some of you in blogland already know... full cups as opposed to tiny spoons!  The warm reception felt so good,  especially knowing who we were up against - popular companies such as Morning Star, Cliff Bar, KIND, Annie's, Simply Orange, Burt's Bees.

  We made sure to present a beautiful display case, filling 5 liter pans with an assortment of our gelato and sorbetto, topping each flavor with fresh fruit - mangos, blood oranges, lemons, cranberries -  and pistachio and walnuts.  To add to the exotic appeal of our fruits, we sprinkled exotic flowers too!

Here's our founder, Matthew Olerio - What do these two have in common?

They both have fabulous hair   :-)

 Reminder!.. Keep sending in your stories of good samaritans -

And.. help us spread the word!

We'd love to reward these everyday good people

with some of the good stuff !

See side bar for details

Friends Indeed

I will forever be grateful to a very special friend of mine, Dave Hastings. I live alone and got up at 1:00 AM on a Saturday morning to use the bathroom. After I had entered the bathroom I accidentally fell backwards and wasn't able to catch myself. I hit the floor and after I tried moving I realized I damaged something. I tried several times to crawl out but to no avail. I laid there the remainder of the night and all day Sunday. The phone kept ringing but there wasn't a thing I could do.

At 7:30 PM Sunday evening I heard the front door unlock. I heard my friend yell my name and I yelled back  to tell him where I was. Words cannot express how welcome his voice was. After he had looked me over he decided I should go to the hospital .  I had been on the floor at that point for 18 hours.

 At the hospital I learned I had broken my hip. While I was in the hospital and then  rehab, Dave watched my house, had my security system updated,  and paid my bills as I instructed. One thing he was very adamant about was making me wear a life alert necklace and carrying a cell phone. I don't drive but he takes me to my doctors and the store to buy food when necessary.

He has been a friend for 34 years, a now he has saved my life! All the money in the world can't buy a friend like this. 

-  Terry Risley

Thank you Terry and Dave

for allowing us to share your wonderful story

of true friendship.  It's also a reminder for all of us to

check on our friends and neighbors who live alone,

and if you are older and live on your own, carry some sort of

calling device on you at all times -  such as life alert or a cell phone.  

Do you know someone like Dave who goes above and beyond to help others?

Tell us about it and we'll send him/her our best form of Thank you -

a big box of our gelatos and sorbettos, free!

Shayna scores big for Special Olympics!!

Check out photos from our Boston College game giveaway  last Sunday!

Our favorite Roba girl, Shayna raised over $1000 towards the Special Olympics

 by shooting 12 for 15 free throws!!

Shayna gives a  big hug to her Dad, Matt Olerio, Founder of Roba Dolce

Bravery and Kindness on the High Seas

 
I work on a tug boat and recently heard an act of kindness that went above and beyond.

While traveling up the East coast last week, we ran into a significant storm at sea that produced 20 ft waves, as we were about 50 miles South of New York Harbor.  The Chief Mate and I were sitting in the wheel house listening to a distress call that was put out on the VHF radio. A 70 foot fishing boat was taking on water. They had one pump operating to pump the water out, but were slowly loosing the battle as the water was rising.

The vessel was in contact with the Coast Guard and they were on scene with a boat and 2 rescue helicopters in about an hour and a half.  We knew from listening to the radio transmissions, that there was another fishing vessel within 4 miles of the sinking boat and they were heading toward them in case they could assist in picking up people out of the water before the Coast Guard arrived. Then we heard another vessel call the sinking boat. They said they were 12 miles away and offered their assistance. The Captain of the distressed boat told him of the boat that was 4 miles away and of the Coast Guard that was on the way out to help. He thanked him profusely but told him his assistance probably wasn't needed.

At that point, the Captain who was 12 miles away could have in good conscience turned away and headed for safety as the storm was quite bad at this point.  Instead, he replied that he was glad it looked like he had all the help he needed, but just in case he was going to head toward him anyway. The Mate and I looked at each other and just shook our heads in amazement.

The Captain who continued on, risked his safety to assist another vessel when he really didn't have to.
This Act of Kindness was impressive, even to us seasoned sailors.  - Mark Finucane

Mark - Thank you for sharing this story of daring rescue. 

Attention readers! - If you know of an act of kindness by someone who goes

above and beyond to improve the lives of others

and you'd like Roba Dolce to reward them with a large

assortment of Gelatos & Sorbettos,  tell us about it!

There's so much good news in the world and

every day people who make a difference.

Send your stories to

robadolceblog@gmail.com

Husband and Wife team bring medical aid to Haiti -

On April 9, 2010 a group of 7 doctors, nurses and volunteers left central Pennsylvania and flew to Haiti... a joint medical mission through Cure International and World Surgical Foundation. Beverly  and Jack Frankeny were part of  that group. Their mission was to bring free medical care to the earthquake victims and poor of that most unfortunate country.

An excerpt from Bev's blog -  which you can visit at  http://imagesofhaiti.blogspot.com/

The Faces

I have always been well aware that there are many persons in this world who live unfortunate lives...lives much different than mine.  These images were held in an area of my subconscious....abstract, remote, uncomfortable.

Now the images have faces.  Faces that haunt my thoughts, my dreams.  Images from a world so totally opposite from the one in which I live have taken hold of my psyche.  They are with me to stay.  I will never take a single moment of my life for granted.  It can all change in a matter of seconds.  I know this to be true.  It's in the faces, the faces of Haiti......

Beverly and Jack - Roba Dolce applauds your efforts in Haiti.

Thank you for letting us highlight your story of courage and giving.