The slices come topped with kindness.
For the past five years, Dagwoods Pizza on Wilshire Boulevard has been quietly donating unsold food to local charities and shelters for women and children.
Recently, Upward Bound House in Santa Monica has been receiving about five large pizzas a week, general manager Mark Peters told The Sun.
The restaurant has previously donated to The People Concern’s Turning Point Housing and OPCC Samoshel Shelter, which are no longer accepting unpackaged food.
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“We wanted to pick local charities, because they are the ones making a huge difference in our local community,” he said.
“Being a small local restaurant, we just felt it was natural to work with some of the smaller local charities!”
Like most shops, Dagwoods bakes up special pies to be cut up and sold by the slice.
“We want to make sure that all of our customers were getting the freshest of the freshest food possible so we decided that our slice pizzas should never sit for longer than 1 hour,” Peters said.
“Naturally, during slower hours of the day, we’d end up with a number of slices leftover and we couldn’t just throw them away. There is so much food waste in this country and every day we are constantly reminded of the ever growing problem with homelessness in our community.
“So we realized that we could make a difference! Every small act like this helps and we are proud to be a restaurant taking the initiative to spur change in the community.”
Dagwoods began donating pizzas to The People Concern’s Turning Point Housing and OPCC Samoshel Shelter in 2016.
We reached out to Upward Bound House for comment, but were not able to reach anyone.
“We are always looking for ways to help our local community, so we would consider working with any other shelter or organization!” Peters said.
“We do our best to minimize food waste in general, but going forward, when we open additional restaurant locations we will be looking for other charities/organizations to work with in those communities!”
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