It took Uncle Luigi Berardi 13 years and a lot of hard work to secure a bond and file a petition for his brother’s family to come to America, but on May 11, 1970, Amato Libero Berardi, his parents Ferdinando and Carmela, and brothers Ferdinando, Salvatore and Fausto, moved from their farmland home in Longano, Molise, Italy, and settled in Philadelphia.

Amato enrolled in fifth grade at Mater Dolorosa in the Frankford section, where students and staff spoke Italian and English. Every day he’d get up at 5 a.m. to collect old newspapers to return to Pellegrino Co., where they’d pay by the pound. After school he’d cut grass. He saved the money to help his parents pay for his education.