Billy Bricks Pizza Donates Hundreds Of Pies To First Responders

NAPERVILLE, IL — Like many business owners throughout the state, Ric Gruber, owner of Billy Bricks Pizza was hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. In the midst of trying to find customers to buy his wood-fired pizzas, Gruber found a way to promote business while helping provide free meals to hospital workers, police officers and other first responders.

Gruber's Feeding the Front Lines initiative involves a two-pronged approach. First, he offers customers a chance to add pre-packaged meals for first responders to their orders. Customers can add as many meals as they'd like. With 10 or more meals purchased, they can designate where the meal gifts go.

For Gruber, this approach was great, but he wanted to do more. He told Patch Billy Bricks Pizza is matching food donations dollar for dollar with pizza donations. So far, they have donated over 350 meals and pizzas to workers at Edward Hospital, Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, West Suburban Community Hospital, Stroger Hospital and other locations.

Gruber told Patch, "Some people can’t even believe" the donations and are overcome with emotion. Gruber told Patch their Elgin restaurant's meal donation to the Hanover Park police department even had the police chief so overwhelmed with gratitude they were in tears.

He said it is "exciting for us to have gotten creative enough to help ourselves and help other people and it’s really great to get that response."

Billy Bricks Pizza, which has eight locations throughout Illinois, was started by Gruber's father, Bill, in the Chicago area after Bill first tried wood-fired pizza in California.

Customers can help the Feeding the Front Line efforts by ordering from any Billy Brick's location and asking to add pre-packaged meals for first responders to their orders.

This article originally appeared on the Naperville Patch