Wadsworth Elementary students participate in food drive, rewarded with pizza

Brad Beam, the co-owner of the Bronx House Pizza on State Road 100 and Bronx House Pizza & Brew in The Hammock, grew up in Palm Coast. He attended Wadsworth Elementary School, Buddy Taylor Middle School and Flagler Palm Coast High School.

He has a relationship with the Salvation Army Food Pantry in Daytona Beach and knows that food pantries shut down when they don’t have enough donations.

So, he went back to Wadsworth and spoke to administrators about organizing a food drive.

“I wanted to teach the kids the importance of helping people in need,” Beam said. “(Principal) Paul Peacock pitched the idea of giving a pizza party to any class that has 100% participation with every kid donating one or more (food items).”

(The Salvation Army was) blown away with how many donations there were, all from one school.” — BRAD BEAM

As it turned out, every class had 100% participation, and Bronx House gave away pizza slices to all 875 students. Beam also had commemorative T-shirts made for all of the students, with the Bronx House Pizza logo on the front and text on the back reading: “First Annual Bronx House Pizza Wadsworth Elementary Food Drive.” The kids wore the T-shirts on their field days.

On May 19, Beam drove to the school and loaded up a van with dozens of boxes of food donations and then drove down to the Salvation Army.

“They were blown away with how many donations there were, all from one school,” Beam said.

He planned to deliver the 150 to 160 pizzas to students and staff at the school over a four-day period, May 22-25.