Josh Katrick liked pizza like any other person. When he found out he had won a year's worth from Mario's Pizza in Northampton, he was definitely excited.
However, he had other plans.
Katrick was diagnosed with colon cancer in July. He got the email from Mario's telling him that he had bested 1,199 other people who signed up for the free pizza contest while he was making his way out of a chemotherapy treatment center.
"I remember coming out of there thinking, ‘I just won pizzas for a year! That's cool!'" he said.
But having gotten so much love and support from friends and family - even people he didn't know at all - because of his diagnosis, Katrick wanted to give back to people who could use the free pizza more than he could.
That's when he wrote back to Mario's to ask if he could give his prize to someone, or something else: the Northampton Food Bank.
Spreading Christmas Warmth With Pizza
Frank Grigoli, Mario's Pizza manager, remembered that conversation with Katrick. And the moment he said he was thinking of giving his prize away to the food bank? Grigoli said it hit a nerve in the heart.
Mario's Pizza has been in business for more than 40 years and spreading warmth through food is something it knows well. A lot may have been done to the place over the years but one thing has remained consistent: their pizza's quality.
The free pizza contest was actually thought up as a way of thanking patrons for their support over the years. However, one customer has inspired Mario's to do even more, so the pizza place has decided to give both Katrick and the food bank free pizzas for a year.
Giuseppe Aiello, Mario's Pizza co-owner Giovanni Aiello's son, said there's no better time than Christmas to give rather than receive, and they're urging others as well to practice kindness when they can.
Colon Cancer Statistics
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer type diagnosed in Americans. According to the American Cancer Society, there was an estimated 95, 270 new cases of colon cancer in the United States for 2016, one of which was Katrick.
This year, colon cancer is expected to lead to 49, 190 deaths, but colorectal cancer death rates have been dropping for the past several decades. Major reasons for this include prompt detection and removal of polyps before they turn cancerous or early diagnosis that leads to easier treatment. As a result, the United States has more than a million colorectal cancer survivors.
