Villano’s Italian in Pocatello launches pay it forward campaign to feed those in need

POCATELLO — For the owners of Villano’s Italian restaurant in Old Town Pocatello, it’s all about paying it forward.

Or as they call it — “Pizza Forward.”

Last week, Aaron and Lisa Villano launched a new campaign at their restaurant at 165 N. Main St. that allows customers to buy a $2 slice of pizza for somebody who is homeless or can’t afford a hot meal.

Those who are hungry and in need, but do not have the means to pay for food, can enter the restaurant and tell the server that they need to take advantage of the Pizza Forward campaign. Then the money that has been previously donated will be used to buy them a slice of pizza, no questions asked.

“It’s almost like a crowdfunding deal,” Aaron said.

The foundation for the Pizza Forward campaign began at the restaurant a couple years ago after a group of Pocatello High School students chipped in to pay for the lunch of a fellow schoolmate who was hungry but couldn’t afford to buy food for herself.

“We posted what these kids did (on social media) and it exploded,” Aaron said.

Soon afterward, customers started coming into the restaurant to donate money that would later be used to pay for the meals of financially-deprived teenagers and children. The Villanos said Bill Hess, a regular at the restaurant, is a major contributor.

Aaron and Lisa were happy to oblige these requests from their customers.

During the school year, the Old Town restaurant is a common haunt for Pocatello High School students. Lisa said that when there’s a large group of students in the restaurant, there’s usually a handful of teens who don’t order food because they don’t have any money. They usually just sit quietly with their friends.

“It’s just heartbreaking,” Lisa said. “You could tell they were just good kids who didn’t have any money. It’s not worth it to let them sit there without food.”

Aaron and Lisa have also set up payment plans with some of these students’ parents, so their children can eat and then pay for the food later when the family’s paychecks arrive.

Allowing customers to pre-pay for teenagers’ food and working with parents to develop payment plans has proven to be a success for Villano’s Italian. So much so that when Davina Cornelius, one of the eatery’s regulars, came up with the idea for the Pizza Forward campaign, Aaron and Lisa jumped right in.

Aaron said the pay it forward concept has proven successful at some pizzerias in the eastern United States. Since launching the campaign last week, approximately 100 slices of pizzas have already been paid for, with Cornelius donating the first 50.

So far, one person has taken advantage of the free slice of pizza.

“We got our first gentleman at Revive @ 5 on Wednesday,” Aaron said. “He told us he didn’t have any food at his home, so we told him to go to our restaurant and we gave him a slice of pizza.”

Aaron and Lisa are currently working with Aid for Friends and various local charitable organizations to help get the word out about the campaign. They also encourage customers to tell anybody who needs help feeding their families to come to the restaurant.

Starting next week, Villano’s Italian will also include a Wall of Hearts in conjunction with the Pizza Forward campaign. When somebody donates a slice of pizza, they fill out a paper heart with a message that gets taped to a wall in the restaurant.

Then, when those who are in need enter the building, they just take one of the hearts off the wall and give them to the server for a free slice of pizza.

Aaron and Lisa opened Villano’s Italian in November 2013. The eatery specializes in classic Italian cuisine, including pizza, pasta and calzones.

Previously, the couple worked at Mama Inez, with Lisa serving as general manager for 20 years and Aaron working at the establishment for 12 years.

In 2016, Villano’s Italian was included in the “15 restaurants in Idaho that will blow your taste buds out of your mouth” by the website movoto.com.

This article was originally published in the Idaho State Journal. It is used here with permission.