‘Special Kneads’ and Best Buddies team up
Collegeville Italian Bakery Pizzeria Napoletana played host to a special needs group from Norristown Area High School.
LOWER PROVIDENCE » The good folks at Collegeville Italian Bakery Pizzeria Napoletana welcome buddies from all over the area every day they’re open for business.
On Wednesday they played host to a special needs group from Norristown Area High School, appropriately known as Best Buddies
As part of their “Special Kneads” pizza-making party field trips, Collegeville Bakery owners Steve and Patrizia Carcarey graciously invited the Norristown chapter of Best Buddies to come into the restaurant and help out with all the typical pizzeria chores, from baking the pizzas to decorating the boxes that house them, while wearing chef hats and aprons.
The couple started the “Special Kneads” parties as another way to give back to the community.
“We break the kids up into groups … one group makes pizza, another group we bring into the kitchen where they play with dough and cookie cutters, making animals and letters,” explained Steve Carcarey. “A third group is the pizza box competition, where the fastest person to put the box together wins a prize, the fourth group decorates the pizza boxes with markers, stickers and crayons. The pizza they make they get to take home. We present them with other pizza for lunch and then they have ice cream.”
The one rule the kids must abide by to participate in a field trip at the bakery is “no smile, no ice cream,” Carcarey said. “The kids get a kick out of that.”
There were no shortages of pizzas or smiles Tuesday as the Best Buddies took over the dining room.
“Just seeing the kids at the end of the field trip when we hand them the pizza they made, like a diploma, is priceless in itself,” Carcarey noted. “They see that they can do this. It doesn’t matter if they’re special or what. It just makes your days when they open that box and get excited over something as small as making a pizza.”
Best Buddies mom Angela Bucci McFarland, whose son Jacob has been thriving since the Best Buddies chapter came to Norristown Area High School two years ago, helped inspire the idea of a field trip to the popular eatery in Lower Providence.
“We’re very good friends with Steve and Patrizia, and I said to Lisa Connolly, one of the advisers for the program at Norristown, let’s arrange a field trip,” McFarland said.
Jacob, now 19, graduated last year and is now a returning student in life skills and vocational classes.
“When you’re special needs you can stay in the school district until you’re 21,” McFarland noted.
“It’s a club where we match special needs students with typical students and then they participate in a variety of activities during the school year,” explained Connolly, a Special Education Transition Coordinator. “We’ll do a breakfast or lunch together, holiday parties, sporting events, like basketball and football games at the high school.”
Connolly works with peer buddy coordinator Steve DiNenno in matching the right special needs buddy to the right peer.
“We match personalities, likes and interests. I know the special ed students every well and Steve knows the peer buddy students very well so we kind of sit down and talk about their personalities,” Connolly said. “We’re always looking for events for the students that promote their social skills. This is something that they can interact with their buddies, making the pizza together and then they get to sit down in the social setting and eat pizza together. It’s a life skill situation, (minding) their manners while eating and having a conversation. This program is giving (special needs) students the opportunity to have a normal high school career.”
Wednesday’s field trip was a perfect overlap of school districts as well, DiNenno noted.
“It’s great crossing district lines to be able to participate in a free program. And all the kids have such a good time. A lot of people working here were students at Norristown,” he said. “So Steve and Patrizia are very connected to our school even though they’re in the Methacton School District.”
The field trip also has the potential to prepare a student for employment one day, Connolly pointed out.
“They’ve never done this stuff before, so I think it’s important for them to see what vocational opportunities they may have as well,” she said. “For some of these kids, it may be fun and they will think, ‘Oh, maybe I want to work in a restaurant when I’m out of school.’ We’ve had numerous businesses reach out to the high school to let our students volunteer there. It gives them the experiences they need so that when they do graduate they’ll be able to get a job. That’s our goal.”
McFarland added,” If you’re not hiring from the special needs community you’re missing the boat because they’re some of the most dedicated workers you’re ever going to find.”
Norristown High seniors Adrianna Wright and Giulietta Marinucci are copresidents of the Best Buddies club at the school.
“My friends at other schools were involved with the club and I really wanted to make a difference,” Wright said. “My buddy is Jack and I love him. It’s been amazing. I love doing this so much. A few of the colleges I applied to have Best Buddies programs and when I applied I wrote that I would love to continue with the program. I hope to come back and help our chapter during breaks,” added Wright, who is bound for Penn State in the fall.
Marinucci, whose Best Buddy is Jacob McFarland, said the “Special Kneads” field trip was her favorite Best Buddies activity of all.
“I like when we get to go outside of the school and do all these fun activities. I’m Italian so I love making pizza,” she said.
When she learned that the program was coming to Norristown High, Marinucci knew she wanted to participate.
“At a National Honor Society meeting one of the students brought up that they were in Best Buddies and in sixth grade I was helping out with the special needs classrooms and I wanted to spend time with these kids again … so this was the perfect opportunity for me to do that.”
Once she and Jacob started getting involved with the pizza-making and pizza-packing process on Wednesday Marinucci said she could immediately see the positive effect it was having on him.
“For some kids, there are sensory issues, so quieter activities like making the pizza boxes are good,” she said. “I could tell he was having so much fun.” McFarland agreed. “Jacob has always been social with adults but not with his peers until this program,” she said. “And now I see him interacting with his fellow students and talking about this friend and that friend, and that’s something I never thought I’d hear from him. My husband and I are very invested in the success of the Best Buddies program and how monumental it’s been for our son.”