"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Saturday, February 10, 2018

National Pizza Day: How Real Americans Do It

So, yesterday was National Pizza Day. (There's a day for everything.) Just to demonstrate that the country is not completely populated by the greedy and ignorant, there's this little tale from RawStory:

Much like their jaw-dropping dough-slinging act, brothers Michael and Nicholas Testa are taking their charity work to the national stage.

Michael, 13, and Nicholas, 11, better known as the Jersey Pizza Boys, began giving out pizzas to help feed the homeless in areas around their family-owned pizzeria, Carmine's Pizza Factory.

But after helping the New York-based Slice Out Hunger feed the homeless in Manhattan, the brothers decided to feed those less fortunate across the entire country.

"Last summer our friend Scott Wiener from Slice Out Hunger asked our dad if we wanted to donate some pies to feed the homeless in New York," said Michael. "It was an amazing experience and on the car ride home me, my brother, and my dad, wondered how cool it would be to do this on a bigger basis."

Less than a year later, the boys -- who have dazzled national television audiences with the pizza dough-tossing feats -- conducted their first "Pizza Across America" event this afternoon on National Pizza Day.

250 pizzerias across the country participated, including Alaska and Hawai'i. And they're hoping for more next year.

Sidebar: Last summer, on a couple of my walks in the park, I ran across a young girl with a lemonade stand, which is not as common as it used to be. On this one was a sign that said the proceeds would be donated to help the homeless.

Maybe the Republicans in Congress could think about this, and how the richest country in the world has people going hungry -- and why --and what they should do about it.

Nah -- some things are just beyond imagining.

There's video of the boys slinging pizza dough at the link.

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