Free pasta dinners are planned for the next three Wednesdays -- April 15, 22 and 29 -- at the lodge, 10 Christopher Columbus Ave. (off Kenosia Avenue), from 5 to 8 p.m. Guests will be asked to donate money to help earthquake victims. The lodge is planning a trip to Italy to take donations directly to the affected parishes.

"We want to make sure the money goes to the right people," said John DeBenedetto, public relations manager for the lodge.

"By May or June, some cleanup will have happened and people will be starting to rebuild. That's when help is truly needed. We will go directly to parish priests and ask them where the money should best be used."

Danbury Amerigo Vespucci Lodge has many members who are first-generation Italian-Americans and still have family members in Italy, but none of the members has relatives living in the quake-affected areas, DeBenedetto said. That hasn't stopped the lodge from reaching out. "We hope many people -- some Italians, some not Italians -- will reach out and help," said Bruno Tropeano, lodge president. "It's very bad over there right now. If everybody pitches in, maybe we can do good things to help the people over there get on with their lives."

By Wednesday, the death count in Italy was 235. Some 1,500 people were injured and tens of thousands were homeless from the 6.3 magnitude quake that hit the Abruzzi region in central Italy on Monday morning.