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An annual event that revolves around good food and good company has raised $25,000 in six years.

And the seventh annual Knights of Columbus Authentic Italian Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser for Smithville’s Good Shepherd Catholic Church , planned for Saturday, Jan. 30, will likely attract a few hundred people and a few thousand more dollars.

Those who participate in the event year after year can easily name the key to success: Vince Benedetto’s old family recipe.

“Nobody does it like the Benedettos,” said Fahren Green, the Knights of Columbus grand knight. “They give you an authentic , handmade Italian dinner — hand-rolled meatballs, spices added by hand and with love, garlic bread. The meatballs are like mini seasoned meatloafs with sauce.”

The event is a tradition for many.

“It’s like a party — a celebration,” Benedetto said of the event at Good Shepherd. “There are many people, especially the elderly, who wait for it every year.”

The event has benefitted the parish’s new church. So far, the parish has hit $100,000 of the $125,000 new building pledge goal.

Benedetto, who lives a few miles east of Smithville and is a member of Good Shepherd and the Knights of Columbus, came up with the spaghetti dinner fundraiser idea several years back.

Growing up in an Italian family in Kansas City’s northeast neighborhood, Benedetto was no stranger to big spaghetti dinners.

“When I was little, there was always a big spaghetti dinner for everything. It’s an Italian tradition. So I decided to bring it down here for everybody,” he said.

He definitely wasn’t the cook of the family as a child.

“Back then, all I did was eat,” he said.

His mother, Lena Benedetto, used family recipes she’d learned from her own mother, who was from Italy.

Benedetto’s sister, Antoinette Jamerson of Trimble, passed the recipes on to him. She, along with other family members and assistance from Paradise Locker Meats, typically helps him prepare the food for the fundraiser.

Preparation for this coming weekend’s event began in the church kitchen Saturday, Jan. 23.

The event requires quite the food total: 200 pounds of meatballs, 120 pounds of meat, 80 pounds of pasta, 80 pounds of Italian sausage, 30 pounds of bread crumbs and 25 pounds of cheese and spices.

It all pays off when people start lining up for the meal.

“Two years ago, I remember looking up and seeing people still out the back door and two lines around the church,” Benedetto said, smiling.

knights of columbus annual spaghetti dinner

- 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 6 to 8 p.m., Good Shepherd Catholic Church, on Commercial Avenue just north of Missouri Highway 92, Saturday, Jan. 30

- All you can eat spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread and drink

- $8 per adult; $4 per children ages 6 to 10

- Call-in and carry-out, 532-4344

- Benefits Good Shepherd

Smithville Editor Nancy Hull Rigdon can be reached at 532-4444 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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