200 spaghetti dinners donated to police, nurses by Grapeville business
The smell of spaghetti and meatballs filled the small work space.
The volunteers were quiet Wednesday morning, concentrating on packaging about 200 donated meals and getting the count just right.
Debbie DiTommaso Huey, owner of Angelo’s Cucina in Grapeville, pretty much has the assembly line work down to a science now. She’s donated hundreds of spaghetti dinners during the past year to essential workers and anyone who wanted one.
DiTommaso Huey said she feels “absolutely blessed times 1,000” to be able to show support for the community.
“This community … has welcomed me with open arms,” she said.
The lucky recipients Wednesday were nurses at Laurel Surgical Center and Excela Square at Norwin, along with police in Murrysville, Irwin, North Huntingdon, Jeannette, Penn Township, Manor, Greensburg, South Greensburg and Southwest Greensburg. Dispatchers at Westmoreland 911 and troopers at the Greensburg state police station got meals consisting of salad, a roll and butter and spaghetti and a meatball.
The group got started Tuesday making sauce and spaghetti with the help of five volunteers and kitchen manager Kim Kintigh. On Wednesday morning, they put together salads and bagged rolls before volunteer delivery drivers Vic and Grace Hensler of North Huntindgon arrived.
Karen Ellson of Murrysville opened the containers of spaghetti and passed them to Linda Reagan of New Stanton who spooned sauce and a meatball into each. Susan Lindsay of Harrison City helped with the sauce while closing the containers and passing them on to Lori Lubinsky of Irwin. She, DiTommaso Huey and Lisa Mensch of Greensburg added salad and bread before packaging them.
The meals Wednesday were funded by a $300 donation from two people who wanted to remain anonymous that was matched by DiTommaso Huey. Her family operated Angelo’s Ristorante in Irwin for 50 years, and she started her own takeout and catering business on Brown Avenue just outside Jeannette about 18 months ago. The donated meals during the past year have been funded by generous customers.
The volunteers wrapped up their packaging work in about 45 minutes.
“The last spaghetti is now being served,” Reagan said as she plopped a meatball and sauce into a container.
“Good job, girls,” Ellson responded.
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.
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