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On Sunday, real estate agent Mark Milligan, Rachel Forame of TurnKey Title and Adam Witt of Coastline Mortgage partnered up to hand out free pizza to children for lunch.
Spizzico’s Italian Kitchen in Arnold supplied the pizzas for the giveaway. The group gave out 61 pies that had been divided into boxes containing two slices for children. Between the hours of 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. they handed out 488 slices of pizza to the community.
“I think this is great and were excited when he asked us to be apart of it. We love to give back to the community,” said Owner of Spizzico’s Gino Romano. “I feel that we support the locals and the local support us back, any opportunity we have to give back we will.”
The group got the idea from seeing that schools are giving kids lunches during the week, but not the weekend. That is when they thought to give free lunch on Sunday for kids that may need it.
“We just want to give back to the community, there is a lot of people struggling and going through hard times,” Milligan said. “We want to show our appreciation. For one, this is getting some people out the house for a minute.”
The group set up two tables outside of the restaurant with waters, Kool-Aid Jammers and free gloves. There were stacks of cheese and pepperoni pizza for everyone.
“We thought it would be nice to do something for the kids on the weekend,” Witt said. “We had a really good turnout despite the weather, people wanted to come out and get free pizza.”
The turnout flowed evenly throughout the day and picked up toward the end.
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“I think it is very admirable of them looking out for the community and the small businesses. It’s a nice change than being in fear and worrying, it gives people a chance to get out of their norm,” said Stephanie Smith, a parent. “I think this gives a family feel and just a good all around vibe. It feels very nice to have this opportunity and be apart of the community and seeing everyone smiling.”
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Another local parent, Brandon Fields, also appreciated what the group was doing for the community.
“It is awesome and I love that they are supporting the community and giving business to Spizzico’s,” Fields added. “It is a win-win to me.”
Spizzico’s had to shut down their dine-in area like most restaurants and is serving pick up orders.
“It is not ideal and as a small business we are left at the mercy about whatever happens,” Romano said. “We been lucky enough that the peninsula supports us back and so far, so good. We have been able to keep the lights on. All in all, we still consider ourselves lucky.”
Milligan set out to make some people’s day on Sunday and he did that from all the smiles families had when receiving pizza.
“If we can make one person happy that’s the goal for the day, We have been getting flooded on social media,” Milligan said. “This was life changing, we go from going outside every day to being told to stay in the house. We’re supposed to come together and help each other during these times.”
If any families missed out on Sunday, the group will be sponsoring another event at Bella Napoli in Pasadena on Sunday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.