Brother front and center to help cafeteria project

NORWALK — Who better to be part of the kitchen crew than Jim Borgia? Borgia and a number of other volunteers put on a spaghetti dinner Sunday to kick off a campaign to renovate the old St. Paul school cafeteria. The current kitchen at Norwalk Catholic and St. Paul High School has been serving meals since it was built in the 1950s. Through daily school lunches, parish festivals, Thanksgiving dinners, pancake breakfasts and countless other fundraisers, this space has seen only minor updates to equipment in its 70 years. Norwalk Catholic School and the SPH Class of 1975 have committed to creating a quality space that will last long into the future. The Class of 1975 has donated its time and talents to commit to raising a Challenge Match to fund the project. This class will honor the memory of Fr. Tony Borgia, a fellow 1975 classmate, who passed away unexpectedly at the end of 2018. Upon the completion of renovations, at the start of the 2021-2022 school year, the new kitchen will be dedicated and named after Fr. Tony. Fr. Tony's older brother, Jim, was there getting another batch of spaghetti sauce ready Sunday afternoon. "We made seven roasters last Wednesday and we went back Friday and made another six," said Jim, a 1972 SPH graduate. "We figure we have about 50 gallons of sauce. "When we started Danny Grine said we had close to 500 (dinners sold) ... from what they said we've had a lot more walk-ins. Well over 500 people." Borgia said it was a bitter-sweet day. "We were all set to do it last year," he said. "We finally got together and said we would do it this year and picked a date." Jim said he has tons of great memories of his brother. "Tony was a freshman when I was a senior," he said. "I had to put the hammer down on him," he added with a laugh. Donations will still be accepted for the project. "They made good decisions 70 years ago. We want to do the same," said Dave Bleile, who leads the project for his class.