A Bronx pizzeria owner saw an elderly woman digging half a pizza out of his trash can and refused to look away. What happened next completely changed his community.
I honestly teared up reading about what happened at D’Romano’s Pizza on East Tremont Avenue. Owner Daniel Romano has spent 45 years in the pizza business and he knows a lot about feeding people. He actually retired recently but decided to open this new shop in the Throggs Neck neighborhood earlier this year after losing both his parents.
One day Daniel looked outside and saw an elderly woman pulling discarded food from his trash can. When Daniel saw her he knew he had to act fast. He walked right out there and took the old slice away and brought her inside to give her a fresh hot piece of pizza.
She started crying right there in the shop. Daniel sat down beside her and simply said “Don’t cry. Eat.” I am just so moved by his compassion because it is rare to see these days people caring for one another.
That single moment inspired him to do more for his community. He grabbed a marker and taped a simple handwritten sign to his front window for anyone else who might be struggling.
The sign read “To the people eating out of the garbage, I have more love for you than you think.” He promised to forever give a free slice and fresh water to anyone who comes inside and tells him they are hungry.
Daniel doesn’t do these good deeds to promote his business or as part of any marketing strategy. He says he feeds people because of a lesson he learned from his mother Carmella. She used to tell him that ‘a desperate person will always make a better decision on a full stomach than on an empty.’ He really took that wisdom to heart. Now people from Texas to Alaska are calling the shop to buy slices for people in need.
We are called to show the same sacrificial love Jesus showed us on the cross to the people who need it most. Being a Christian is not just about following Jesus. It is also about being the hands and feet of Jesus that bring hope and light to this world. We can all be like that.
That woman was in the very worst situation of her life right then. What she needed wasn’t a bunch of money or a big house or anything like that. It was just a simple meal for the day.
When that business owner met that small need of hers he showed her the true heart of God. The most beautiful part is that Daniel didn’t just stop with that kind gesture, he went beyond what business owners often wouldn’t.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, there are so many people struggling right around us just for a single meal. If we just set our minds to it we can easily satisfy their hunger for at least one day. Let our faith be something that doesn’t just stay hidden inside our hearts but actually shows up in our everyday actions. May God’s name be glorified through the way we step up to care for others.
“If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” — James 2:15-17 (NKJV)
WATCH: Pizzeria Owner’s Response to Woman Eating From His Trash Has the Internet in Tears
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