A man from Pennsylvania, diagnosed with colorectal cancer, surprised everyone when he donated one year’s worth pizza to the local food bank after winning the prize from a contest.
The man’s name is John Katrick and in July he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The thirty-six-year-old man from Northampton is currently going into chemotherapy treatment. Colorectal cancer is the third more common type of cancer in America. Just in 2016, nearly 96,000 people were diagnosed with the disease, as Katrick was. However, although the death rate of this disease was very high in the past years, the numbers are lowering as currently there is in America more than a million colorectal cancer survivors.
One day, while he was leaving the hospital where he receives the chemotherapy treatment, he got an email that said that he had won the Mario’s Pizza contest prize of one year of free pizza. Another 1,200 persons were participating for the prize that went to Katrick.
Katrick has got a lot of support from his friends, family and the citizens of Northampton in general. He feels very grateful for all the love, and he thought that he had to give all that love back. Katrick said that a year of free pizza was going to be more useful in the Northampton Food Bank, where people desperately need help.
Christmas and kindness: pizza for everyone
Mario’s Pizza owner, Frank Grigoli, admitted that he was very surprised when he received Katrick’s call and asked if he could pass away on the prize and give it to somebody, or something else.
“We asked the question, ‘who are you thinking?’ and he said, ‘Northampton Food Bank.’ And it kind of, like, it hit a nerve in the heart,” he said while explaining the call between him and Katrick. “And this time of year, doing what we’re doing, I can’t think of anything better,” he said, convinced that this was the best.
After Grigoli had talked with his other co-owners about Katrick’s request, they decided to give both him and the Northampton Food Bank a year of free pizzas, as they showed how Katrick’s action deeply moved them.
This particular pizza place is famous for their longevity in Northampton. In fact, the contest was a way of thanking the patrons for their support through the years. Giuseppe Aiello, one of Mario’s co-owners, said that there is no better time to give than Christmas and that they were very happy with helping Northampton community. He even invited other establishments to aid the local community in the way they prefer.
Source: Tech Times