BY JOSEPH B. NADEAU

WOONSOCKET – Milk Fund Chairman and City Councilman Roger G. Jalette isn’t taking any chances on making this year’s edition of the Milk Fund Roast a winner for the annual charity drive.

Jalette has secured not just one willing subject for the evening of comic jousting and laughs but two-- longtime city attorney and municipal court judge Lloyd R. Gariepy and the city’s newest state Senator, Roger Picard.
The pair will face a surprise line-up of roasters at a dinner scheduled for Dec. 30 at the Bocce Club Restaurant, 226 St. Louis Ave., Jalette announced Wednesday. WNRI radio personality and owner Roger Bouchard will be master of ceremonies for the evening.
“I am very encouraged about what is going on right now,” Jalette said of the fund’s progress thus far this year. As of Tuesday, the charity drive benefiting local working families, seniors and those recently unemployed had made $10,500 of its total $80,000 goal.
Area residents have responded to the daily Milk Fund auctions being conducted on WOON and WNRI and also with donations in the memory of loved ones, he noted.
 Local businesses have also helped out, agreeing to take more than $1,500 worth of ads in the upcoming roast’s program book, according to Jalette.
 The Fund’s recent support has come despite the nation’s economic recession and Jalette sees as an indication it will continue until the fund’s goal is achieved.
“We’ve already reached $10,500 and in my opinion that is an excellent start,” Jalette said.
 Jalette knew he had to find a winning line-up for the Milk Fund Roast to make it another Milk Fund success and as result he opted for two honorees to provide added assurance of success.
 Gariepy and Picard command a large following of friends and family in the community and that will help make this year’s Roast a sure sell out, Jalette noted.
 “I wanted to be sure we would be bringing in enough people to fill a large hall,” he said. Jalette is having 350 tickets made up for the evening at $20 a ticket and expects to sell them all before the night of the event. Door prizes and a raffle will also be featured at the dinner.
 The roast is being held in the final week of the drive this year and will cap all of the month’s hard work to reach the goal.
 Jalette is still putting together his team of mystery roasters for the evening and anyone interested in helping out or purchasing dinner tickets can contact him at Roger’s Flowers on Greene Street by calling 597-5790.
 Picard, who moved from the House to the Senate following the death of longtime local senator Roger Badeau last year, said he was surprised that Jalette wanted him as a roast subject.
 “I am honored that they think roasting me is going to help raise money for the Milk Fund,” Picard said. That did seem a tall order to Picard and he told Jalette that he would certainly allow someone better to take his place if that person turned up. “I told if him if he decided to pick someone else, be my guest, but I guess he didn’t,” Picard said.
 Picard also agreed that having Gariepy along for the roasting will help build a bigger crowd for the last big event of this year’s drive.
 “I hope it generates a lot of money for the Milk Fund because it is a wonderful program and does great things for a lot of people in Woonsocket,” he said.
 While the roast will be his first venture into realm of public humor, Picard said he did get a bit of a warm up for that role last year when he turn 50 and his family roasted him at his birthday party.
 His wife, Diane, daughters, Nicole, Kristen and Caitlyn teamed up with other family members and friends to keep his face red with embarrassment during the party. Jalette maybe looking for some of that family material since he has already contacted Picard’s brother Richard help in line-up the Senator’s roasters.
 Using Roast history as a guide, Picard can expect his roasters to be creative, humorous and caustic all at the same time. They have also been known to come bearing gifts or use multi-media presentations to make their points.
 Gariepy is also aware of what he is getting into since he has already run the gantlet once for the Milk Fund when he was roasted years ago.
  Just like the juror asked to return for another trial, Gariepy told Jalette of his past service when his name came up this year. “I told them but it didn’t get me off the hook,” he said.
 While Gariepy doesn’t remember all the jokes his roasters came up during his prior stint, he does remember clearly how it felt.
“It’s like sitting the dentist’s chair. You never know what you are in for. You never know what they are going to come up with,” he said.