Story posted Thursday, January 28, 2010
Special Delivery On Its Way To Troops Again
By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter
The man known around the Pentagon as "General Pizza," Elk Grove Village resident and retired U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Mark Evans, is ready to make another delivery and local schools are helping.
Evans received formal permission from U.S. military commanders to ship 9,500 Chicago style deep-dish pizzas to combat zones in the Middle East, just in time for the Super Bowl next month, through his organization Pizzas 4 Patriots.
Pies will be loaded at O'Hare Airport this weekend on a DHL jet to make the trip to the Middle East.
Evans is partnering with deep-dish pizza makers Gino's East and Edwardo's that will charge Pizzas4Patriots $6 a pie, less than their usual cost. The pizzas will be flown by DHL to the Middle East, through Kuwait, to be served to troops in Iraq, Kyrgyzstan on the Afghan border and Kuwait. Evans said he has raised about half of what he needs to purchase 10,000 pizzas.
Students at East Leyden High School raised $2,700 for Pizzas4Patriots by selling "Support the Troops" T-shirts and bracelets and Cochiaro's pizza by the slice in the cafeteria.
Students at Winston Campus Jr. High in Palatine also raised $2,500 for Pizzas4Patriots.
An additional 500 pizzas will be delivered to local veterans hospitals for the Super Bowl. Domino's will make pizzas going to veteran's hospitals.
In the early summer of 2008, Sgt. Evans' 15-year-old son Kent Evans thought it might be a good idea to send pizzas to troops serving in the Middle East. After a quick email to U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus a mission to feed the troops for the Fourth of July was a "go" and 2,000 pizzas were delivered to Iraq. Last year on July 4th, Pizzas 4 Patriots brought 28,000 pies to feed 96,000 troops. Pizzas were also delivered to feed troops watching the Super Bowl.
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