Our latest trip to NYC supporting Slice Out Hunger

A few members from the Ooni team have just gotten back from a trip to the city that never sleeps – we were back in NYC for our second year supporting Slice Out Hunger’s annual $1 Pizza Party!

We created the Ooni Impact Fund to help realise two of our core company values – kindness and passion – and through the fund donate 1% of our annual turnover to social and environmental causes. Slice Out Hunger is one of our ongoing charitable partners – founded in 2009 by uber pizza lover Scott Wiener (who also runs Scott’s Pizza Tours), it’s a non-profit that supports hunger relief in NYC's in-need communities through pizza-focused events.

Slice Out Hunger throws their epic $1 Pizza Party every October in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It’s a super fun event filled with pizza lovers, where some 50 local pizzerias donate their pizzas to fundraise for hunger relief causes – this year, the event brought in 1,100 guests and raised $75,000 for Citymeals on Wheels. We had an outdoor tent right at the front of the venue, where our team fired out awesome Neapolitan-style pizzas from an Ooni Pro and Ooni Koda and gave slices away to the hungry crowds!

Ooni Experience Manager and Impact Fund champion, Kevin Brown, headed out to visit Citymeals on Wheels while in NYC for the event, delivering meals to elderly New Yorkers. “It was amazing to see the work they do first hand and to see the benefit of the money raised by the $1 Pizza Party,” he says. “The impact of the warm meals delivered and interaction between representatives of the charity and locals was clear to see and incredibly heartwarming.” Citymeals on Wheels deliver an incredible two million meals every year to 18,000 people.

What’s so clear about the pizza community in NYC is the sheer passion for this simple yet delicious dish. Pizza truly does bring people together and Scott and his team have created an awesome event that brings out generosity and epic slices in truckloads! We’re so happy to have been able to support this event as a sponsor for the second year running, so thanks to all involved.

Read more about the Ooni Impact Fund, and check out our previous Slice Out Hunger sponsorships through the 2018 $1 Pizza Party and our pizza party at Crest Hardware.