Stamford Frank Pepe’s Serves Up Delicious Partnership With Youth Nonprofit Future 5
Stamford Frank Pepe’s Serves Up Delicious Partnership With Youth Nonprofit Future 5
Local Business and Local Organization to Begin Collaborating to Help Local Students
STAMFORD — On Monday, June 17, Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana opened its 17th location in Stamford at Bull's Head Shopping Center at 64 High Ridge Road. From the start, they have plans to get involved in the community.
During the pizzeria's ribbon cutting, the restaurant’s manager, Robert Busillo, reminisced about visiting the original Frank Pepe’s in New Haven as a child and expressed his excitement about engaging with Stamford’s youth.
“I'm excited to be part of making that memory for the next generation of Stamford. Speaking of the next generation of Stamford, we are partnered with Future 5 for Pepe’s Gives Back to help youth connect with the resources they need to achieve their career, education, and their life goals. We're excited to be partnered with you guys,” he said.
Busillo then officially announced that the city’s newest pizzeria was ready to open. “The oven is hot, the fire is lit, and we're ready to get started,” he said.
Future 5, a nonprofit organization based in Stamford, is dedicated to empowering motivated, under-resourced students. It does this by bridging the gap and connecting them to the resources and people they need to reach their full potential.
Speaking with the Stamford Current at the ribbon cutting, Future 5 Office Manager Cashell Peters-Durrigan shared how this new partnership with the pizzeria will work.
“[Frank Pepe’s] will be generously donating up to ten pizzas to our kids and program once a month. What that means is food security and happiness because everybody loves pizza. It’s just a big deal,” Peters-Durrigan said. “We’re so happy to be a part of something so huge and hopefully, there will be future relationships to grow.”
The Pepe’s Give Back program aims to support the communities where the legendary pizzeria has a location. In Fairfield, the company has partnered with Operation Hope and its Community Kitchen food pantry to help provide meals to neighbors in need. Pepe’s has also donated a percentage of sales during a specific day to local organizations through their “Good Neighbor Day” or “Good Neighbor Night” opportunities.
In addition to supporting Stamford’s youth, this new Frank Pepe’s restaurant has added 50 new jobs in the city, which Mayor Caroline Simmons shared at the event.
Future 5, which recently held a poetry slam and pickleball fundraiser, also announced the hiring of a new Director of College Success. On Thursday, July 6, the organization held their 2024 graduation ceremony with Congressman Jim Himes (D-CT) and Connecticut Judge Gladys Idelis Nieves at the University of Connecticut-Stamford campus.
According to a press release, 58 high schoolers were honored who “received over 300 acceptances to more than 85 colleges and universities in Connecticut and the Northeast including Boston College, Cornell and Syracuse Universities, Georgia Tech, University of Connecticut (Stamford, Storrs), and the Universities of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.”
Additionally, 34 participating students in Future 5’s College Success initiative who attend CUNY Hunter, Howard University, Roger Williams, Sacred Heart, University of Bridgeport, and the University of Connecticut, among others were also recognized for their academic achievements. 2024 marked the Future 5’s largest collegiate graduation class since the organization was launched in 2009.
Learn more about the pizzeria’s giving back efforts here and Future 5 here.
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