The Effect of Katrina on ...Pizza

The world wanted to know and the demand has been met here.

Of course, there is a Navy connection:

September 6, 2005: In the space of three days, two pizza companies and one small food brokerage organized a fund-raiser and supplies drive that filled the trailers of three semis and one 24-foot box truck.

According to Jim and Ann Reichle, co-owners of Angelina's Pizza in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, the big rigs arrived in Jacksonville, Fla., on Sept. 5, where their loads were transported to the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, a Navy warship headed for New Orleans today.

Thousands in cash were rounded up to pay for the trucks' fuel. Siler Chapman, owner of Ice Cream & Pizza Works in Fort Mill, S.C., presented the truck drivers with a $5,000 check made up of funds he solicited from donors.

A feature-length story on this remarkable event is forthcoming.