Union Pizzeria To Promote Organ Donation With Special Boxes

UNION, NJ — Throughout April, Johnny Napkins in Union will be distributing custom designed pizza boxes displaying the number of people in the local area currently waiting for a life-saving transplant. This is part of NJ Sharing Network’s campaign for Donate Life Month, to help spread the word about organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

Owner of Johnny Napkins, John Garofalo also works for Union County where two of his coworkers have been personally touched by organ and tissue donation.

Elizabeth Stamler of Scotch Plains, is a donor and recipient family member. Her dad, brother, and aunt have all been heart transplant recipients and her other brother, Stephen, who died in 2009 was a tissue donor to 29 people.

Rosemarie Hampp of Plainfield is a living donor. She donated a kidney to her mother in 2003.

“When they told me their stories it kind of opened up my eyes and I wanted to try to do what I can to support them and bring awareness to this,” Garofalo said.

Stamler was touched that Garofalo is getting involved and really likes the idea of having special pizza boxes.

“This campaign is a way to definitely get the conversation going about organ donation,” Stamler said. “The idea with the pizza box is you never eat pizza alone, you usually share with family or friends. And on the pizza boxes will have the number of people waiting in the area for a transplant.”

More than 135 pizzerias, coffee shops, diners, delis and bagelshops in the state have teamed up with NJ Sharing Network, the non-profit organ procurement organization that is responsible for the recovery of organs and tissue for the nearly 4,000 New Jersey residents currently awaiting transplantation.

Similar to the pizza boxes, specially designed coffee sleeves will also be distributed with the number of local people waiting for a transplant.

“What we want people to know is that organ and tissue donation can affect anyone – it might be your neighbor, the person you wave to every morning on your way to work, or the barista who serves you a cup of coffee daily,” said Joe Roth, President and CEO of NJ Sharing Network. “In 2017, more New Jersey residents gave the gift of life than ever before, resulting in over 550 lives saved. Our state is home to some of the best pizzerias and coffee shops in the country and picking up a pizza or cup of coffee this April might mean we are one step closer to saving even more lives.”

Union County eateries participating include:

• Bacci's Brick Oven, New Providence
• Bellariva Pizzeria, New Providence
• Bellariva Pizzeria, Summit
• Coppola Ristorante & Pizzeria, New Providence
• Doria's Pizzeria, Summit
• Ground Connection, Hillside
• Italian Village, Plainfield
• Johnny Napkins, Union
• Marcello's, Berkeley Heights
• Noah's Bagels, Chatham and New Providence
• NYC Bagels, Union
• Prestige Diner, New Providence
• Saporito's, Springfield

To view a full list of participating restaurants, visit njsharingnetwork.org/savenjlives_participants.

(Image via NJ Sharing Network)

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.