Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / LI PIZZA STRONG Joins Alex Garrett Podcast Network As LI Pizzerias Support Families of the West Babylon Crash Victims on 10-23-24

Transcript

LI PIZZA STRONG Joins Alex Garrett Podcast Network As LI Pizzerias Support Families of the West Babylon Crash Victims on 10-23-24 · OneLegUpAlex Media

0:02
Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Derek. All Right, well, my friends
0:08
Speaker 1: from Li Pizza Strong are back with another campaign this Wednesday, Alistic,
0:13
Speaker 1: would I welcome back to one leg up Network?
0:16
Speaker 2: Hi? How are you happy to be back? But also
0:19
Speaker 2: said to be back?
0:20
Speaker 1: What's the cause this Wednesday that we are going to
0:22
Speaker 1: be going to the pizzeria for So.
0:25
Speaker 2: We are raising money for the teenagers who are involved
0:29
Speaker 2: in the West Babylon car crash two past three were
0:34
Speaker 2: critically injured.
0:36
Speaker 1: Just horrible and then so tell us how you and
0:39
Speaker 1: the families got together and the pizzeri is to make
0:41
Speaker 1: this happen as a fundraiser.
0:44
Speaker 2: So we were going back and forth. We wanted to
0:47
Speaker 2: do something in October because we have a proclam proclamation
0:52
Speaker 2: that October twenty fifth is National Long Island pezz Today.
0:56
Speaker 2: We got that for our fundraiser last year for the
0:58
Speaker 2: Farming Day at bus crash. And we were going back
1:03
Speaker 2: and forth with different causes. We were talking about doing
1:05
Speaker 2: something for animal shelters, we were talking about doing something
1:08
Speaker 2: for breast cancer, we were talking about doing something for
1:11
Speaker 2: suicide awareness. We were kind of going back and forth.
1:14
Speaker 2: We knew we were going to do something in October
1:17
Speaker 2: and ironically it was like twelve hours, like a year later,
1:24
Speaker 2: that this tragedy happened. And this car crash happened from
1:29
Speaker 2: the bus crash that happened last year for the Farming
1:32
Speaker 2: Day in Farmingdale. I think that happened on the twenty second,
1:35
Speaker 2: and this happened early on the twenty first, and I
1:40
Speaker 2: just I saw the accident driving home from a work event,
1:45
Speaker 2: and I just knew that we had to do something.
1:49
Speaker 2: Kind of felt bad because we were, like, you know,
1:52
Speaker 2: looking to do something for breast cancer, but you know what,
1:55
Speaker 2: we just felt that this was a very very important cause.
2:01
Speaker 3: It's in the Farmingdale crash.
2:02
Speaker 1: Everybody kind of knew of how come nobody really got
2:05
Speaker 1: a lot of coverage about this crash if you weren't
2:07
Speaker 1: on Long Islands.
2:10
Speaker 2: I don't know. I wish I did know. I have
2:15
Speaker 2: noticed that a lot of people don't know about this crash,
2:17
Speaker 2: so I am explaining myself a little bit more. I
2:20
Speaker 2: don't know that I had to do with the families
2:22
Speaker 2: not wanting it out there. I don't know if it's
2:24
Speaker 2: because it was on Long Island and not in Pennsylvania
2:27
Speaker 2: like the Farmingdale crash. I don't know I wish I knew,
2:32
Speaker 2: but you know, local media has been been very helpful
2:37
Speaker 2: in helping us promote this, and you know, we hope
2:39
Speaker 2: it's it's a successful day. If you do want to participate,
2:45
Speaker 2: we have a full list on our website l ipzastrong
2:49
Speaker 2: dot com. We also just posted the final list of
2:52
Speaker 2: the participant participants by town that's on our Facebook and
2:57
Speaker 2: Instagram page.
2:58
Speaker 3: And that's how I found out. You know, you guys
3:00
Speaker 3: are involved and finally had a.
3:02
Speaker 1: List and I got to say we were invited to
3:05
Speaker 1: check presentation of the Diller family on portug can not
3:08
Speaker 1: make that, but give us a recap.
3:10
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it was so sad. It was so great,
3:13
Speaker 2: but just so sad and meeting Stephanie and I just
3:18
Speaker 2: didn't know what to say. I try not to cry.
3:21
Speaker 2: My mom was with me. She was hysterical crying, and
3:24
Speaker 2: just the bravery that that woman has is just so commendable.
3:28
Speaker 2: Like this girl is my brother's age. Officer Diller was
3:32
Speaker 2: my age. So it really hurt, you know, even to
3:35
Speaker 2: be there and even have to do this, and it
3:38
Speaker 2: even hurts even more that we have to do it
3:40
Speaker 2: for another tragedy like we were gonna do it for breast cancer. Like,
3:43
Speaker 2: let's do something that's a happy occasion. And this is
3:47
Speaker 2: what I mean, not a happy occasion, but not a tragedy.
3:51
Speaker 2: And you know, unfortunately here we are doing something that's
3:54
Speaker 2: another sad cause.
3:55
Speaker 1: Obviously Li Pizza Strong has had success with their campaigns.
3:58
Speaker 1: What is the driving force behind you know, raising money
4:02
Speaker 1: for the Farmingdale crash victim so now's Bambalan and of
4:05
Speaker 1: course all detective dealer, what's the driving force behind you
4:08
Speaker 1: guys to make every campaign of success.
4:11
Speaker 2: It's really just a passion that we have and just
4:15
Speaker 2: trying to bring an industry together, not specifically the pizza industry,
4:19
Speaker 2: but the hospitality industry as a whole. You know what
4:23
Speaker 2: I do as one of my jobs is I am
4:28
Speaker 2: trying to change the mindset of the consumers to you know,
4:34
Speaker 2: think positively in the restaurant industry, not negatively. The restaurant
4:37
Speaker 2: industry is like one of the first industries to get bashed.
4:42
Speaker 2: You go to a bad meal, you have bad meal
4:44
Speaker 2: at the place. Immediately you'll go to Yelp or Facebook
4:48
Speaker 2: or whoever and write or tell ten people that how
4:50
Speaker 2: much it sucked. But you go to alta or Sephora
4:54
Speaker 2: or Dick Sporting Goods, and you had a bad experience
4:56
Speaker 2: and you never write about that. So it's really just
5:00
Speaker 2: collaborative with with what I do and you know, helping
5:04
Speaker 2: people change their mindset on the restaurant industry and this
5:07
Speaker 2: is the way that we feel has been really successful
5:10
Speaker 2: and being like, you know what, that pizza might have
5:12
Speaker 2: sucked one day, but I know that they are helping
5:15
Speaker 2: us raise money for different causes, like I'm going to
5:17
Speaker 2: give them another chance, like I'm going to give them
5:19
Speaker 2: a shout out. So you know, it's just it's it's
5:23
Speaker 2: for the industry, run by industry people, and it's hard
5:26
Speaker 2: to do fundraisers like this when you're not in the industry,
5:29
Speaker 2: but we are so we can relate, and I think
5:31
Speaker 2: that's the driving force and just being passionate about helping out.
5:35
Speaker 2: It is something that you know, we thrive on as well.
5:40
Speaker 1: I'm actually on the LR so that's a very long
5:42
Speaker 1: island conversation right now as we're talking. But I got
5:46
Speaker 1: to say, Lyssa, when you are doing the fundraisers, talk
5:49
Speaker 1: about the planning. It sounds like you're always thinking of
5:51
Speaker 1: ideas to come up with to make La Pizza Strong
5:55
Speaker 1: continue to grow and expand into other not just strategies,
5:59
Speaker 1: but real campaigns, not just know when the tragedy happens.
6:04
Speaker 2: Well, we don't want to exhaust the idea, so we
6:06
Speaker 2: just kind of let it sit for a little bit
6:09
Speaker 2: and then when something happens, we react. You know. We
6:11
Speaker 2: feel like if we do this all the time, it
6:13
Speaker 2: kind of gets stale. But I have enough not to
6:17
Speaker 2: plug another another thing. But I have a five O
6:20
Speaker 2: one ct three where we use food businesses, all types
6:23
Speaker 2: of food businesses to raise money for charity. We did
6:26
Speaker 2: one for Leukemium and Foma Society where we did an
6:29
Speaker 2: ice cream fundraiser and we had Long Island Creamery make
6:33
Speaker 2: these custom four packs and we sold those for yeah,
6:37
Speaker 2: twenty dollars. I think they were in ten dollars. Came
6:39
Speaker 2: back to the cause. We used to do farmers' markets
6:44
Speaker 2: for charities where we got a bunch of food, food
6:46
Speaker 2: and beverage businesses and some craft bass together and we
6:49
Speaker 2: raise a lot of money for different charities with that.
6:52
Speaker 2: You know, we always try to come up with different
6:53
Speaker 2: ways to get back and use food food businesses because
6:58
Speaker 2: they need us right now. COVID kill them like that
7:00
Speaker 2: is the one industry that got completely completely destroyed from COVID.
7:06
Speaker 2: So we're just trying to find ways where you know,
7:09
Speaker 2: it's beneficial, where you know, we're make giving restaurants such
7:13
Speaker 2: a great night and also they're giving back to the community.
7:15
Speaker 2: So it's a win win situation. No matter what fundraiser
7:17
Speaker 2: we do.
7:18
Speaker 1: What else are you working on when these campaigns aren't happening?
7:22
Speaker 2: So full time I work for Bacardi, a liquor rep.
7:29
Speaker 2: I also run run the Facebook group Dynai and the
7:31
Speaker 2: nonprofit that I just spoke about, where we use food
7:35
Speaker 2: businesses to raise money for charity and also have a
7:39
Speaker 2: positive space where people can come and write reviews positively
7:43
Speaker 2: and also work on changing the mindset of the industry.
7:46
Speaker 2: And then I also own a baking business, and I
7:49
Speaker 2: also try to have a life, but I really don't.
7:52
Speaker 4: But I'm always trying to come up with new things
7:55
Speaker 4: and exciting things to you know, freshen up the industry
7:59
Speaker 4: and you know, get the community involved, and you know,
8:03
Speaker 4: just try to do interesting and unique things that you know,
8:06
Speaker 4: people want to be involved in.
8:08
Speaker 1: And I'd feel like Long Island, unlike the city, is
8:10
Speaker 1: very easy to get people involved in different efforts, right,
8:13
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe just a geographical thing, but Long
8:16
Speaker 1: Island seems so much more tightened.
8:18
Speaker 3: Yes, you know, it's interesting though.
8:20
Speaker 1: About the restaurant and she I've been working with someone
8:22
Speaker 1: who's on the radio and she was former GM in
8:24
Speaker 1: the Palm and she talked about her stories.
8:26
Speaker 3: It's not easy if you're in the industry.
8:29
Speaker 1: So one of the highlights of really maybe even encouraging
8:32
Speaker 1: people to go to.
8:33
Speaker 3: The industry and start that restaurant.
8:35
Speaker 1: I know it's dupting tests, but it feels like you're
8:37
Speaker 1: a Long Wilene to start that restaurant if you want
8:39
Speaker 1: to start.
8:41
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean, listen, I started baking business at eighteen.
8:44
Speaker 2: I'm thirty one now. It's not easy. It's not easy.
8:49
Speaker 2: I basically spent my entire twenties building a business. I
8:54
Speaker 2: could have been having fun, but I decided to build
8:56
Speaker 2: my business. And it's kind of paying off a little bit,
9:00
Speaker 2: a little bit, not too much now since everything is
9:02
Speaker 2: so expensive. But you know, I always came from a
9:05
Speaker 2: world of no When I went to culinary school out
9:11
Speaker 2: in Riverhead and I had an opportunity to work at
9:16
Speaker 2: one of the top bakeries on Long Island and they
9:19
Speaker 2: told me, sorry, you're too young. And I tried. I
9:23
Speaker 2: applied to a thousand different jobs. Always told no, And
9:27
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know what, I'm starting my own thing
9:29
Speaker 2: and I work for myself. And even with working in
9:33
Speaker 2: the liquor business, I interviewed with the two major companies
9:36
Speaker 2: twenty three times before I got in. Took me three
9:39
Speaker 2: years to get into this industry, and I did what
9:43
Speaker 2: I could to get in, and you know, I had
9:45
Speaker 2: a great career stuff. I worked for one of the
9:47
Speaker 2: top suppliers of up liquor. But Cardi is a huge company.
9:50
Speaker 2: It's an honor to work for them.
9:52
Speaker 1: I reached you that you get to go to different
9:54
Speaker 1: events at Bacardi throws because they're a very social group too.
9:57
Speaker 3: Like they have different events through the year, don't they.
10:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they have a lot of events. I mean
10:01
Speaker 2: I just started like a month and a half ago,
10:04
Speaker 2: so like I'm starting to learn that about all they do.
10:07
Speaker 2: But you know, I work for Tito's for three years,
10:11
Speaker 2: and you know, we did a lot of events with them.
10:14
Speaker 2: We did a lot of traveling with Tito's, you know.
10:17
Speaker 2: So it's just an industry of fun. It's a it's
10:20
Speaker 2: a tough industry. It's not easy by any means, but
10:24
Speaker 2: it's a lot of fun and it has ups and
10:26
Speaker 2: downs at like any job. But yeah, I mean, listen,
10:30
Speaker 2: it helps me with my mission of helping restaurants. Like
10:33
Speaker 2: I hear what these restaurants are going through. I see
10:35
Speaker 2: their struggles. Some of them cried to me for like
10:37
Speaker 2: an hour. Sometimes it's just like, I can't do this anymore.
10:40
Speaker 2: I want to give up. I want to give up,
10:42
Speaker 2: and I'm encouraging them not to. And it's it's sad.
10:47
Speaker 2: It's tough what this industry is going through right now.
10:49
Speaker 2: But I think that if you want to be in it,
10:50
Speaker 2: you absolutely should be because it's one of the hardest
10:53
Speaker 2: things to ever get involved in, and it's also the
10:57
Speaker 2: most rewarding because not everybody can do it.
11:00
Speaker 1: We just had something very interesting couple minutes ago about
11:02
Speaker 1: the pandemic crushing the restaurant industry, and to me, the
11:06
Speaker 1: policies sometimes we want those policies, but it just drove
11:09
Speaker 1: me crazy that hardworking, small business model and pop restaurants
11:13
Speaker 1: were shutdown while the corporate Starbucks was still open.
11:16
Speaker 3: It just was It wasn't right. But I got to
11:19
Speaker 3: ask you this.
11:20
Speaker 1: How did you coach restaurants that were crying to you
11:24
Speaker 1: even back in twenty twenty we didn't even talk about
11:26
Speaker 1: this last time. How did you coach them through that
11:28
Speaker 1: to say, you know what you will get through? What
11:30
Speaker 1: was your messaging during that time.
11:33
Speaker 2: No, I used to tell them, you know, use my
11:37
Speaker 2: utilize my page and my group, and introduce yourself to people.
11:42
Speaker 2: Give the people the connection that we didn't have during COVID.
11:46
Speaker 2: We didn't have connection, We didn't have interaction, we had nothing.
11:50
Speaker 2: We were sitting at home, you know, had a mask
11:52
Speaker 2: on our face. You know, we were waiting in line
11:55
Speaker 2: of supermarkets for hours. People were delivering things to you know,
11:58
Speaker 2: your door. And I think with my Facebook group, just
12:04
Speaker 2: having people connect with people and you know, just saying like, Hi,
12:09
Speaker 2: I'm the owner of this, you know so and so,
12:11
Speaker 2: Like we're open, don't forget about us, and you know,
12:15
Speaker 2: and I still encourage owners to do that to this day.
12:18
Speaker 2: I'm like, I have a group of forty seven thousand
12:20
Speaker 2: people and I'm like you posting saying, hey, you know,
12:25
Speaker 2: my name is so and so. I own this restaurant.
12:27
Speaker 2: You know, we specialize in this, and just giving that
12:30
Speaker 2: friendly approach. It does make a difference. I had a
12:34
Speaker 2: new place open up right after COVID and she's like,
12:39
Speaker 2: how do I get my name out there? How do
12:41
Speaker 2: I get my name out there? And I'm like, send
12:44
Speaker 2: me a picture or something really cool that you make
12:47
Speaker 2: that you want to highlight, and I said, and I
12:50
Speaker 2: was like, I forgot what it was like, I'm like
12:52
Speaker 2: lobster thing, and I was like, post that on the
12:55
Speaker 2: group and introduce yourself. I think like within that week
13:00
Speaker 2: he got like, no joke, I'm not even lying, like
13:02
Speaker 2: two hundred new customers just from that one post. And
13:06
Speaker 2: it's just, you know, I think everyone's forgetting the connection
13:10
Speaker 2: portion of the hospitality industry and I think everyone needs
13:16
Speaker 2: to get back to that. And you know that's where
13:18
Speaker 2: we are right now. Unfortunately, it's just people are looking
13:21
Speaker 2: for you know, the experience going out to eat is
13:24
Speaker 2: not an experience anymore. It's just get in, get out.
13:27
Speaker 2: You know, owners don't come out. You know, customers are rude,
13:30
Speaker 2: you know, people are eating at home now. Like it's
13:34
Speaker 2: just that that connection is lost and it's really sad,
13:38
Speaker 2: and I'm hoping that that things will change in the
13:40
Speaker 2: new year. But you know that's my message, and I
13:43
Speaker 2: just you know, I have I tell these owners to
13:45
Speaker 2: be involved, be engaged, you know, don't hide behind you know,
13:49
Speaker 2: don't hide in your office. If you're there, go out
13:52
Speaker 2: and say hello, greet people, give people the experience that
13:56
Speaker 2: you know, you don't get anymore, you know, ever since COVID.
14:00
Speaker 1: No, you're right, and of course the restaurants had an
14:05
Speaker 1: enforced role that I know people were pissed about the
14:07
Speaker 1: mask and all that, but that wasn't the restaurant's bold
14:10
Speaker 1: and I feel like that anger was sort of misplaced
14:12
Speaker 1: during that time, Am I right?
14:17
Speaker 2: Yes? And no, I think it was more of the
14:21
Speaker 2: enforcement of the mask that pissed off the public as
14:24
Speaker 2: opposed to having to wear the masks. You know, I
14:29
Speaker 2: did at that time. I can't believe it was like
14:31
Speaker 2: almost freaking five years ago, but at that time, you know,
14:34
Speaker 2: I had people try to write complaint posts about, oh,
14:37
Speaker 2: this owner had you know, the mask, you know, below
14:40
Speaker 2: his nose, and I'm like, this is this is a joke,
14:43
Speaker 2: Like I'm not approving this, but listen, it was. It
14:46
Speaker 2: was a crazy time. I don't want to think about
14:47
Speaker 2: it anymore. I want to move forward from it. And
14:50
Speaker 2: I'm hoping.
14:51
Speaker 1: You know, well, you know what that that time showed.
14:54
Speaker 1: It's how adaptable restaurants can be. And I'm sure that's
14:57
Speaker 1: one of the things to preach is always adapting as
15:00
Speaker 1: as a restaurant, right.
15:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I mean I always give ideas to restaurants.
15:05
Speaker 2: I always tell them what to do. But also, you know,
15:07
Speaker 2: you're going to have the people who adapt, and you're
15:09
Speaker 2: going to have the people who don't adapt. And it's
15:12
Speaker 2: sad to say, but you know, the people who don't
15:15
Speaker 2: adapt aren't doing well and the people who do adapt are.
15:19
Speaker 2: But nobody's doing well right now, just just the economy's awful.
15:22
Speaker 1: So you know, when it was a situation when you
15:26
Speaker 1: started the Facebook group and since then, did you think
15:31
Speaker 1: that you would be such a change of a live
15:34
Speaker 1: change really, because it sounds like you'd help a lot
15:36
Speaker 1: of business to stay alive and also helped start up
15:39
Speaker 1: a lot.
15:40
Speaker 3: Of restaurants that maybe not would have if you weren't
15:43
Speaker 3: there for them.
15:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean I started this in twenty nineteen with
15:50
Speaker 2: one of the liquor jobs I was with. I was
15:52
Speaker 2: responsible for new business and they always asked me like,
15:56
Speaker 2: how do I get my name out there? And you know,
15:58
Speaker 2: I tell them like, oh, I on my baking business
16:01
Speaker 2: off posting on Facebook moms groups and they look at
16:04
Speaker 2: me like I'm crazy. They're like, what do you mean, Like,
16:06
Speaker 2: I'm a guy, I can't join a mom's group and
16:08
Speaker 2: I don't live in this town or whatever, and I'm like,
16:11
Speaker 2: I don't know, it doesn't hurt to try, and you know,
16:13
Speaker 2: I'd be like, oh, like, oh no, that's weird. So
16:16
Speaker 2: my mom works in the in the linen side of
16:18
Speaker 2: the business and we were on another group one day
16:22
Speaker 2: and just the negativity of that group pissed me off
16:24
Speaker 2: so much, so I called my mom and I was like,
16:26
Speaker 2: we're starting our own group, but we're going to help
16:28
Speaker 2: the restaurants. And did I think this is going to
16:33
Speaker 2: be a huge success.
16:34
Speaker 1: No.
16:35
Speaker 2: I think the pandemic helped with our success because we
16:39
Speaker 2: did do like the Feed the Frontline Workers campaign. We
16:42
Speaker 2: did raise fifteen thousand dollars and we fed one hundred
16:45
Speaker 2: and forty three frontline units, whether it was hospital workers,
16:51
Speaker 2: police officers, funeral homes, we did some firehouses, we did
16:57
Speaker 2: nursing homes, basically anyone who's on the front lines. We
17:01
Speaker 2: raised money and we were able to use these restaurants
17:04
Speaker 2: who were closed, and we used to be like here,
17:06
Speaker 2: all we have is three hundred dollars. We need to fit.
17:08
Speaker 2: We need to feed this. You know, obg y n
17:11
Speaker 2: unit has fifteen people in Mineola and then we would
17:15
Speaker 2: have members offered deliver it. So it was just like
17:18
Speaker 2: a way to kind of bring people together. And ever
17:21
Speaker 2: since that that day, I was kind of like, you
17:24
Speaker 2: know what, like this is what we need to do.
17:25
Speaker 2: We need to find ways to bring people together. And
17:29
Speaker 2: you know, I'm very humble person, so like I don't
17:31
Speaker 2: like to talk about myself, but you know, it's it's
17:36
Speaker 2: pretty cool to look back and be like, wow, like
17:38
Speaker 2: I did that.
17:41
Speaker 3: You definitely did it.
17:42
Speaker 1: Sounds like so I didn't know you back then, but
17:44
Speaker 1: I could tell based on these campaigns, well I pizza
17:47
Speaker 1: sound that you're a very driven person.
17:50
Speaker 3: So I am.
17:52
Speaker 1: I commend you for all that success early on and
17:54
Speaker 1: now here you are about five years later when you
17:58
Speaker 1: go to the different restaurants that are you know that
18:00
Speaker 1: are there that have been started up and that you've advised.
18:04
Speaker 1: What's that like to see a full house every night?
18:06
Speaker 1: And you want to make the rounds? I know, like
18:08
Speaker 1: restaurant owners and restauranturs make the rounds, I get to
18:11
Speaker 1: see the people. Are you that type as well?
18:13
Speaker 2: No, I like to stay behind the scenes. People come
18:16
Speaker 2: up to me all the time and I'm just like, hey,
18:18
Speaker 2: how are you, But like I'm super awkward about it.
18:22
Speaker 2: I shouldn't be, but I am. I just I'm not
18:24
Speaker 2: a person that you know, likes to be like called
18:28
Speaker 2: out or you know. I stay behind the scenes.
18:32
Speaker 1: I definitely like putting on this show because you've got
18:35
Speaker 1: a lot of wisdom twin part, and hopefully we'll have
18:39
Speaker 1: a fuller show on the actual you know idea of
18:42
Speaker 1: getting restaurant tours going and and maybe not tragedy. That
18:46
Speaker 1: would be nice to have a full on conversation about
18:48
Speaker 1: the restaurant business without the tragedy aspect, you know.
18:51
Speaker 3: But for now, I hear. It's what five dollars peaches
18:54
Speaker 3: on Wednesday? What's the deal that people can get when
18:57
Speaker 3: they go to these restaurants? How's that going to work out?
19:00
Speaker 3: For the pizza?
19:00
Speaker 2: It's not really a deal. It shows you buy a
19:03
Speaker 2: pizza and five dollars comes back to the call. So
19:05
Speaker 2: it's really like the easiest fundraiser ever. All you have
19:07
Speaker 2: to do is buy a pizza. You gotta feed your
19:09
Speaker 2: you gotta feed, you gotta eat, so you know, it
19:12
Speaker 2: doesn't take a lot to justpic All right, I'm gonna
19:15
Speaker 2: have pizza tonight and you know, feed your family. And
19:17
Speaker 2: if you can't buy a pizza, I don't like pizza.
19:19
Speaker 2: I don't want pizza. You know, considered, you know, sending
19:23
Speaker 2: one to a precinct or hospital or a school or
19:27
Speaker 2: you know, a shelter or you know anybody who you
19:30
Speaker 2: think would want one to help with the cause.
19:36
Speaker 1: I would say pizza is the one thing that really
19:38
Speaker 1: brings us all together. I mean, we all love our pizza.
19:41
Speaker 1: I want a great way to fundraise in that way. Now,
19:45
Speaker 1: I gotta say this. I know other places that do
19:47
Speaker 1: fundraiser with pasta. Have you ever tried to think of
19:50
Speaker 1: pasta Nights or something like that to do more fundraisers
19:53
Speaker 1: even through the the medium of pasta, because that brings
19:57
Speaker 1: people together too.
19:59
Speaker 2: I mean the problem with that is it's like it's
20:01
Speaker 2: so hard to find something that's universal where like everybody
20:05
Speaker 2: can participate. We wanted to do something with bagels, but
20:08
Speaker 2: you know, sometimes the timeline doesn't work because you know,
20:12
Speaker 2: some beagles stops open at five am, summer twenty four hours,
20:15
Speaker 2: summer open at seven, so like, and then they close
20:18
Speaker 2: at two, or they close at one, or they close
20:20
Speaker 2: at three. And you know, I was doing a campaign
20:25
Speaker 2: in March through May actually go when the dialer Pizza
20:28
Speaker 2: Strong was going on Foiled Leukemia and then Foma Society,
20:31
Speaker 2: and I was having such a hard time finding an
20:35
Speaker 2: idea that would work with multiple types of restaurants. So
20:42
Speaker 2: I mean, this one works, you know, it's universal. It's
20:45
Speaker 2: just I think I have to find that next one.
20:49
Speaker 2: But you know, I'm good with small, you know, small
20:51
Speaker 2: little fundraisers too. You know, if if we did with Phils,
20:55
Speaker 2: my partner for Anthony from Phils, my partner in Pizza Strong,
21:00
Speaker 2: you know, we did a family meal deal where one
21:02
Speaker 2: night we would make a family meal deal for thirty
21:05
Speaker 2: five dollars and we donate back ten percent of it
21:08
Speaker 2: to whatever cause. You know. So I do like like
21:10
Speaker 2: smaller fundraisers too. That really gets the community involved. Depending
21:14
Speaker 2: on the cause.
21:16
Speaker 1: You are driven to keep the communities together and have
21:19
Speaker 1: that outreage. What's that like for you to break the
21:21
Speaker 1: community together.
21:24
Speaker 2: I mean it's pretty awesome. I'm not gonna lie, you know,
21:28
Speaker 2: it's cool, like you know, reading the comments and you know,
21:32
Speaker 2: even like with the Farming Dell one and with the
21:34
Speaker 2: with the Diller one, like seeing Facebook flooded with the
21:37
Speaker 2: custom boxes and Instagram and you know, just the pizzeria
21:42
Speaker 2: is getting so involved, sending me video, sending me pictures,
21:44
Speaker 2: and the community. You know, everyone in the world has
21:48
Speaker 2: my cell phone number, so I'm just getting random numbers
21:51
Speaker 2: with pictures, you know, of anything with Pizza Stronger, with
21:54
Speaker 2: any of the fundraisers that we do, and you know,
21:57
Speaker 2: it's pretty awesome and it's exciting and it's it's motivating,
22:01
Speaker 2: and it's kind of like, all right, what's next. Like
22:03
Speaker 2: we had a little bit of a lull ever since
22:06
Speaker 2: the Diller fundraiser. I didn't really do much. I got
22:10
Speaker 2: really busy with my jobs and you know, I laid
22:13
Speaker 2: low for a little bit. So it's kind of itching
22:15
Speaker 2: to do something new and exciting. Unfortunately we had to,
22:18
Speaker 2: you know, come back to this, but you know, I'm
22:21
Speaker 2: looking to do something again in January and February, you know,
22:24
Speaker 2: hopefully something totally different than this and for a good cause,
22:28
Speaker 2: like I love to do something for animal shelters. I
22:30
Speaker 2: love to do something you know that for childhood cancer
22:34
Speaker 2: or you know, anything like that, just to make things
22:37
Speaker 2: a little greater.
22:39
Speaker 1: How about competition, I've ever thought of that about what
22:44
Speaker 1: pizza competition? Like what the best pizza all in the
22:46
Speaker 1: island type of No, because I.
22:49
Speaker 2: Feel like that just that says more like competitive instead
22:52
Speaker 2: of bringing people together. You know, everyone has different opinions,
22:58
Speaker 2: so I'd like to stay away from that, just because
23:00
Speaker 2: I don't want the backlash, you know, I don't. I
23:04
Speaker 2: don't do well with with backlash and conversation. So you know,
23:08
Speaker 2: like I was thinking about bringing back one of our
23:10
Speaker 2: farmers' markets because that was those were really great. I
23:15
Speaker 2: don't know, you know, I'm sure I'll come up with
23:17
Speaker 2: something because February is a slow time for everybody and
23:20
Speaker 2: no one's really doing anything. So it's good to bring
23:22
Speaker 2: some excitement back in February and March when nothing's really
23:26
Speaker 2: going on.
23:27
Speaker 1: All right, The million dollar question tonight is what is
23:31
Speaker 1: your favorite pizza? As part of La Pizza Song, what
23:34
Speaker 1: is your favorite pizza? I I don't remember if I
23:36
Speaker 1: asked you this before.
23:37
Speaker 2: Like what style pizza is my favorite?
23:40
Speaker 3: What style?
23:41
Speaker 1: What kind is the pepperoni? But like what kind of
23:44
Speaker 1: pizza do you like to have?
23:46
Speaker 2: Oh, just regular is fine. I'm not like, I'm not
23:49
Speaker 2: the biggest pizza either. Like I'll eat it, but you know,
23:52
Speaker 2: I'd rather eat something else to be honest.
23:56
Speaker 3: Well, there you go.
23:57
Speaker 1: And by the way, it's going to be the same
23:58
Speaker 1: format where the funders are having on Wednesday and then
24:01
Speaker 1: you have a big sort of check presentation.
24:04
Speaker 3: Is that in the works as well for this campaign?
24:08
Speaker 2: I don't know. We haven't so we usually do with
24:13
Speaker 2: the Town of Oyster based supervisor Joe Saladino, just because
24:16
Speaker 2: the two tragedies we did in the past fell within
24:18
Speaker 2: the town of Oyster Bay Range. No one really from
24:22
Speaker 2: the town of Babylon has reached out and I don't
24:25
Speaker 2: have a contact with the Town of Babylon to do one.
24:27
Speaker 2: If anything, will probably just do like a small one,
24:30
Speaker 2: like a private one. And I'm sure you know, all
24:32
Speaker 2: the news stations are going to start reaching out asking,
24:35
Speaker 2: but we didn't really get that far. We're just trying
24:38
Speaker 2: to I'm just trying to get this fundraiser just up
24:40
Speaker 2: and running. And you know, I'm sure with me Anthony
24:43
Speaker 2: and Jim, my two partners, we'll we'll talk about it
24:46
Speaker 2: and see what we're gonna do. But if we do
24:49
Speaker 2: a big one, you know, we'll definitely invite you. It's
24:52
Speaker 2: just I have to reach I don't have a contact
24:54
Speaker 2: directly to the families yet, so you know, I have
24:57
Speaker 2: to reach out to them and see their comfort level.
24:59
Speaker 2: It's a little little bit different this time, just because
25:03
Speaker 2: two kids are still in the hospital and situations are different.
25:08
Speaker 2: So we'll see I hope so, but I don't know yet.
25:14
Speaker 1: Touch and Go is the worst kind of tragedy in
25:18
Speaker 1: that kind of sense of like you don't know. That's
25:20
Speaker 1: really horrible too. So we're praying for the kids tonight
25:23
Speaker 1: as we speak.
25:23
Speaker 3: Alyssa.
25:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sad, it really is, but.
25:30
Speaker 1: You are you are trying to, I would say, bring
25:34
Speaker 1: awareness to how important community is and shine a light
25:38
Speaker 1: of unity through tragedy.
25:39
Speaker 3: So I recommend you on that as well.
25:42
Speaker 1: Thank you all right, Alyssa, would I thanks so much
25:45
Speaker 1: for joining me once again, and we'll be keeping eye
25:48
Speaker 1: on l I Pizza Strong for fundraisers, you know, as
25:52
Speaker 1: we continue here.
25:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, anytime you want to chat, you let
25:56
Speaker 2: me know.
25:58
Speaker 3: All right. Thanks Alyssa so much for and the one
26:00
Speaker 3: like a
26:00
Speaker 2: Network of course, have a great have a great night