Pizzeria Is More Than Just a Restaurant

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Anthony Suppa. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Anthony Suppa spent six years in the U.S. Marines before going into the restaurant business. Not long after, drawn to helping kids, he hosted his first donation event for Toys for Tots at the restaurant he was managing. He was immediately hooked, and things took off from there.

In 2024, over a decade into fundraising and organizing large-scale toy drives for the organization, Anthony founded Slice of Charity to expand his work and dedicate himself to helping veterans and families in need as well as children. These days, he owns the Italian pizzeria he spent years managing and uses it as a volunteer hub.

He spends 80 to 100 hours a month volunteering on anything he defines as “human-related.” In 12 years, he has collected and delivered more than 25,000 toys, provided thousands of meals to families in crisis, raised tens of thousands of dollars for causes and supported countless fellow veterans with training and resources. And with big plans for the future, he’s just getting started.

What inspires you to volunteer?

I was working as a manager at Frantoni’s, and I wanted to collect some toys for the kids. There were probably 30 to 40 people—mostly family and friends—there, but it grew a little bigger each year. I realized that I thoroughly enjoy making a difference. It eventually grew so big we weren’t able to host it at our restaurant. So, we found Oheka Castle. Last year, we had 1,400 people and raised over $6,000. When I started Slice of Charity, I felt like I could do so much more.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Slice of Charity.

I’m the founder, the organizer, the everything. I have a board, but we just do what we need to do—meeting and voting–to keep the 501(c)3. The planning, coordinating, partnership development, fundraising and event execution is on me. There are no other volunteers. I have a lot of big projects with the Department of Veteran Affairs and work with different companies to do events on-location.

I’m trying to build a training facility for veterans and entrepreneurs to work and train at our restaurant. They’ll learn what it takes to open and run a restaurant. I went to culinary school, but it doesn’t compare to hands-on training. I’ve also started a wellness company that will be launching soon called Aluvia. I’ll be donating 100% of the profits to Slice of Charity and its mission.

Describe a couple of your initiatives.

We do events and fundraisers at for-profit businesses, including many restaurants, where a portion of the sales goes to whatever we’re trying to achieve. A year ago, we held an event to raise money for a 3-year-old boy whose father is in the Army and whose mother passed away shortly before he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and autism. The father was really going through it, and we were able to write him a check for around $15,000.

At one of the restaurants, we hosted an event and gave the proceeds to the Ronald McDonald House. We got a freezer donated and, after the event, we delivered several thousand dollars’ worth of food over the course of a month. We were able to raise a couple thousand dollars, then Frantoni’s covered the rest of the food they needed.

We also got a Porsche for ride-alongs. We’re going to go to hospitals to visit sick kids and veterans to take people out of whatever bad situation or moment they’re in for a short amount of time. It’s important for mental health.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

With the training facility, we’re trying to reinvest in veterans. We want to help them–financially and with guidance–open their own restaurant.

It’d be like a franchise; part of the sales would go back into Slice of Charity to support its mission.
We’re trying to feed veterans through the restaurant itself. The training center will also be an emergency response kitchen. God forbid anything ever happens like another Hurricane Sandy, there will be a safe, dry place that can hold and feed 1,000 people.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

It’s taking somebody out of a situation for a while. Seeing a kid smile who’s not doing well or whose parents can’t buy gifts for Christmas. Once, an organization reached out about a little boy who is blind and had some health issues. He’d written to them because he really wanted this Buzz Lightyear toy, so I bought it and sent it to him. They sent a picture back of him holding it with a handwritten letter that was also in Braille.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

One of the biggest things is not to feel so bad about myself, because there are bigger problems that I could have. My problems might feel huge, but to somebody else, they’re tiny. This work really puts things into perspective.

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.

I have a trunk-or-treat event this month. We’re blocking off an entire block and have around 50 exotic cars coming. They’re going to hand out candy from the trunks for Halloween. The kids will be dressed up. It’ll be a block party with a DJ, and everything’s free. We just ask people to come hang out.

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?

Everybody likes to make excuses, but for anything in life, you have to stop waiting for the perfect time. Just do it. And don’t be afraid to be told no or to not get a response.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

It’s not that difficult to make a difference. Something small to you could be huge to somebody else. And it doesn’t always have to mean time or money. It could be sharing an organization’s story on social media, leading a person who sees it to get involved.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Anthony? Find local volunteer opportunities.