The Power of Pizza and Pasta to Help Others

Frankie & Fanucci’s Wood Oven Pizzeria may be the hot new dining destination in Mamaroneck, but it’s their fundraising efforts that are really on fire. In the past week alone, the new pizza and pasta restaurant—with another location in Hartsdale—has lent its support to the community in three significant ways.

Mamaroneck Avenue School was lucky to have received a double helping. Principal Carrie Amon and Reading Specialist Barry Koski recently had 24 students who achieved 100 points in the school’s Accelerated Reader program. Reaching such a goal traditionally warranted a special outing.

“The principal used to take the kids who achieved a certain proficiency to lunch at another restaurant for their reward, but the school's budgets are stretched thin these days so we offered to host them on the house,” said Brad Nagy, co-owner of Frankie & Fanucci’s. “Education is important and it was our small way of ensuring the principal could reward the kids for a job well done.”

“The kids were treated royally,” said Amon. “What a nice way to support the kids’ achievements!”

“In regard to our community efforts, we want to be known as a local business that cares about the community in which we do business,” said Nagy.  “The accelerated reading lunch is a good example.”

Frankie & Fanucci’s was also a welcome presence at MAS’ International Fair on Saturday, serving a few of its popular dishes to help raise money for the school’s varied PTA programs.

“We hope to work with all the schools in our community, and are working on a more formal program that will help the schools raise much needed funds and also help them reward kids for academic achievement,” Nagy added.

On Sunday, the restaurant hosted its first in-house fundraiser in its new Mamaroneck location—while simultaneously hosting at its other establishment—for suicide prevention awareness because of a relationship with a young woman named Christie Civetta.

Civetta—a college student and Scarsdale resident—was personally touched by suicide, having lost her beloved stepfather when she was a freshman in high school. She decided to turn her pain into power by doing work for Suicide Prevention International (SPI), a leading not-for-profit organization that develops, implements and funds suicide prevention projects in the U.S. and worldwide.  One of Civetta’s goals is to help shed light on a subject as dark as suicide.

“I believe that the reason suicide is referred to as ‘dark’ is because most people don’t understand it,” Civetta said. “I agree, it is a very scary subject to discuss, but so was cancer 20 years ago. It still is, but the stigma is gone."

“My plan is to help people better understand that this is not something to be shoved in the closet because it is scary,” she continued,“rather, it is a subject that should be discussed with more frequency in order to open the doors for more help and activism.”

Civetta came to work with Frankie & Fanucci’s last October when soliciting sponsors for a breast cancer walk.

“Frankie and Fanucci’s staff were, by far, the friendliest of all the places I visited and actually informed me they had a team going to the walk anyway,” Civetta recalled. “I am not sure of how it happened exactly, but I ended up asking what they could do for me if I approached them with fundraising ideas for SPI.”

“We chose this organization because of Christie Civetta,” Nagy said. “She was a very good customer of our Hartsdale restaurant; today, she is good friend. She had a very compelling and personal story, so I suggested we do a fundraiser in the restaurant which would help her raise more money than we could just donate on our own.” That event raised $500, so the restaurant and Civetta decided to do it again this year.

On Sunday, from noon to 10 p.m., Frankie & Fanucci’s earmarked 20 percent of participating diners checks to SPI, raising approximately $750—a 50 percent increase over last year according to Nagy—for the upcoming  “Walk for Life” that is taking place on May 7th in Riverside Park, N.Y. Through all of her fundraising efforts, Civetta has raised $16,527 (plus today’s number) for SPI to date.

“We want to support others, too,” Nagy offered. “If you have a great cause, we're open to listening and seeing how we can help.”

Frankie & Fanucci’s is located at 301 Mamaroneck Ave., Mamaroneck and 202 E. Hartsdale Ave. in Hartsdale;  (914) 630-4360.