THE BRONX – A handwritten sign in the window of a Bronx pizzeria is getting attention across the country, but owner Daniel Romano says it started with one woman, one discarded slice of pizza and a belief that no one should ever go hungry.
The sign is simple, handwritten in marker and taped to the window of D’Romano’s Pizza in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, but the story behind it started outside, when Romano spotted a woman taking food from his trash. He says he saw it – and brought her inside.
‘Please come in and tell me you’re hungry’
What they’re saying:
“I grabbed her by the hand and I led her to the pizzeria and I went in the oven and I got her a fresh slice and gave it to her,” Romano said. “Sat down and she started crying. I said, ‘don’t cry, eat. This is not a problem. I don’t want you eating out of a garbage.’ So I came up with the concept: feed people that are hungry.”
Afterward, Romano grabbed a marker and made sure anyone else in her position would know they can come through his door: “To the people eating out of my garbage, I have more love for you than you think,” the signs reads. “Please come in and tell me you’re hungry. I will forever give you a slice and fresh water to drink.”
“Right now, I think this world is shot,” Romano said. “I think there’s too much hate. There’s too much aggravation. There’s too much negativity. Why not put a smile on someone’s face?”
For Romano, that instinct to feed someone who needs it goes back to his own childhood.
“My mother, God rest her soul, her name was Carmella Romano, she had a saying in her dialect Italian,” Romano said. “She used to say, ‘a desperate person will always make a better decision on a full stomach than on an empty.’ It always stuck with me. So I feed people.”
It’s a side of Romano that longtime friend and customer Tony Cucci says people in the neighborhood already know well.
“A guy like him, coming from this neighborhood, wanting to give back I think it’s the coolest thing,” Cucci said. “He’s such a good-hearted guy.”
But now, word of what Romano is doing has traveled well beyond the neighborhood, with people wanting to chip in and buy some slices for those in need.
“I have people from Texas, I have people from Arkansas, I have people from Alaska. Don’t ask me, I didn’t even know Alaska had a phone. From all over the world, Hawaii, calling me,” Romano said.