A new Pizza Nova opened in Oakville less than a month ago and has already written its first check to a local food bank.
On May 14, Adjmal (AJ) Nusrat, Pizza Nova franchisee, and Tony Nusrat handed over a cheque for $1,000 to Stephen Rowe, president of Fare Share Food Bank Oakville. The funds will be used to purchase perishable food for the food bank.
Rowe told Oakville News that the demand seen at the food bank is still double what it was prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. "Our numbers keep going up," said Rowe. "We're serving around 800 families now per month and before Covid we were serving like 400 maybe."
In 2023, Fare Share Food Bank served over 27,000 people. In December 2023, Rowe was concerned about what the next few months would look like as they entered slow season for donations. Rowe said that they were really going to have to rely on support from the community, which wasn't an issue in Oakville.
Read morehere : ‘Highest demand in 37 years’; Oakville Fareshare Food Bank prepares for slowing donations as demand soars
Rowe has since reported that donations have been steady. With support from Pizza Nova customers, an additional $1,000 was raised for Fare Share Food Bank during the grand opening on April 27, 2024, of Pizza Nova’s newest location in Oakville, Ontario.
Read more: New Oakville Pizza Nova opening a success
"The people of Oakville have been wonderful," said Rowe, "businesses and private donors, we didn't solicit this Pizza Nova donation, they contacted us and we sent one of our guys there for the ribbon cutting ceremony and he told me they (customers) were lined up out the door for the pizza so they've got a good start that's for sure."
Customers were offered a special deal — a medium pizza for $5.99, with $1 from each pizza sold being donated to the Fare Share Food Bank Oakville.