The Wog With The Grog (headed up by Robert Dessanti) hosted a fantastic, successful fundraising dinner, with guest of honour Nonna Paola front and centre, and with money raised going to Alzheimer's Australia VIC, Nonna Paola's charity of choice. Held at Veneto Club, at Bulleen, it was a night of fun and serious stuff, too.
The Wog With The Grog met Nonna Paola earlier this year, and a few months ago she famously coined the term in one of her viral videos, "The Wog With The Frog." As is Nonna P's trademark, even her unintentional slip ups are hilarious. See that viral video below.
There are so, SO many photos and fun stories to post from the wonderful night. Here is a selection of the best, below.
Italio-Australian actor and super-pro (and very funny) James Liotta emceed (follow him here), and new-on-the-scene, very funny duo Sooshi Mango took some fun clips which really made the night a fun one (follow them here), and silent auctions happened, all in front of a very funny, generous, loud and giving crowd of Melbourne-ites who had one thing in common: they love Nonna Paola. Author Josie Gagliano spoke about her experiences with dementia, having been a carer for her mother and written a book about it all (in: 'The Australian Ageing Generation Handbook'), and many in the room had their own very moving stories and experiences with dementia.
A huge, HUGE thank you to our sponsors:
Unforgotten Aboriginal Arts (personalised artworks, limited edition and signed)
Jet Flight Simulator, Melbourne (two vouchers)
Kaye Bottega jewellery (two sets of beautiful jewellery)
Coffico (coffee, tea, cafetiera hamper)
Pantalica (vouchers for their yummy cheeses)
Flawless by Maryanne (fab makeup vouchers)
Villa By The Beach, Fraser Island (beach accommodation voucher)
Park Lane jewellery (exclusive jewellery, as worn by Nonna Paola!)
Sofitel, Melbourne on Collins (high tea for four)
Dynamic Jessica (kids' party gift vouchers)
Here is how the night kicked off, with the Sooshi Mango guys (click on the links to watch them):
And, you can still donate direct to the cause. Go right here.
The very funny 'The Wog With The Frog' viral video:
Stay tuned for a new post, on night two of the Nonna Paola fundraising dinners for Alzheimer's Australia, also hosted by The Wog With The Grog.
The Wog With The Grog met Nonna Paola earlier this year, and a few months ago she famously coined the term in one of her viral videos, "The Wog With The Frog." As is Nonna P's trademark, even her unintentional slip ups are hilarious. See that viral video below.
There are so, SO many photos and fun stories to post from the wonderful night. Here is a selection of the best, below.
Italio-Australian actor and super-pro (and very funny) James Liotta emceed (follow him here), and new-on-the-scene, very funny duo Sooshi Mango took some fun clips which really made the night a fun one (follow them here), and silent auctions happened, all in front of a very funny, generous, loud and giving crowd of Melbourne-ites who had one thing in common: they love Nonna Paola. Author Josie Gagliano spoke about her experiences with dementia, having been a carer for her mother and written a book about it all (in: 'The Australian Ageing Generation Handbook'), and many in the room had their own very moving stories and experiences with dementia.
A huge, HUGE thank you to our sponsors:
Unforgotten Aboriginal Arts (personalised artworks, limited edition and signed)
Jet Flight Simulator, Melbourne (two vouchers)
Kaye Bottega jewellery (two sets of beautiful jewellery)
Coffico (coffee, tea, cafetiera hamper)
Pantalica (vouchers for their yummy cheeses)
Flawless by Maryanne (fab makeup vouchers)
Villa By The Beach, Fraser Island (beach accommodation voucher)
Park Lane jewellery (exclusive jewellery, as worn by Nonna Paola!)
Sofitel, Melbourne on Collins (high tea for four)
Dynamic Jessica (kids' party gift vouchers)
Here is how the night kicked off, with the Sooshi Mango guys (click on the links to watch them):
The Sooshi Mango camera guy
The Sooshi Mango guys, Joe and Carlo, interviewing Robert Dessanti:
And then, Nonna P is action:
Nonna P loves a selfie, she really does! It's our 'thing' now, see...
We did it all for Alzheimer's Australia VIC
The beautiful Kaye Bottega jewellery
Ah, the boys. So much fun was had.
Greg and Josie, so much planning, so much fun.
And some lovely guests:
Nonna Paola - an absolute natural on the microphone. Some of the chats were about her real life experiences with dementia, losing her beloved best friend of over 45 years to the disease, and still volunteering at nursing homes after a whopping 17 years (hence the serious faces in some of these shots):
Nonna Paola and James Liotta and Greg:
The stunning, personalised artwork made by Monique from Unforgotten Aboriginal Arts, which Mon created by asking what Nonna Paola's fave colours are (blues!) and naming it the 'Nonna Paola'. She then signed the back to authenticate it, and had Nonna Paola sign it also, a first for the artist! Such gorgeous artwork, created just for the event, as the cause means so much to Monique.
Tas, a guest on the night, who was the coolest chick around.
The delicious FOOD!
One of the beautiful guests was happy to show Josie's Juice her tattoo, in memory of her beloved husband Remo. She even showed Nonna P!
Our lovely guests enjoyed lucky door prizes
Who do you think they were 'papping'? Nonna P, of course! Such genuine love for her:
The love between Greg and son Mitchell is lovely to see:
NO TATTOO! One of our guests, Tas, showed Nonna Paola her tattoo. Her face says it all...
And, you can still donate direct to the cause. Go right here.
The very funny 'The Wog With The Frog' viral video:
Stay tuned for a new post, on night two of the Nonna Paola fundraising dinners for Alzheimer's Australia, also hosted by The Wog With The Grog.
