Bakery raffles Easter egg for charity
You won’t find any marshmallow peeps in Italy, but you will have ample opportunities to buy beautifully decorated and wrapped, oversized designer chocolate Easter eggs.
What’s more, the eggs are usually hollow and harbor a tiny treasure.
If that sounds intriguing, Collegeville Italian Bakery Pizzeria Napoletana is saving you a trip to Italia by offering the chance to win a colossal 20-pound Gabriella chocolate showpiece, which isn’t for sale but elegantly beckons to customers as they come through the door.
For the third year in a row, the popular Ridge Pike destination for Italian food, pastries and all manner of imported treats is donating the proceeds to a worthy cause.
All the money raised from the raffle of the Gabriella egg will benefit the Lukens family of Schwenksville, who tragically lost everything in a recent fire, including two of their three children — 11-year-old Bryan Jr and 6-year-old Parker.
The family’s pets were also killed in the fire, which authorities determined was caused by an electrical failure of an extension cord.
“Tickets are $1 each or six for $5 and are now available for purchase,” noted Steve Carcarey, who co-owns the business with wife Patrizia Carcarey. “The winner of the raffle will receive our hollow, chocolate Easter egg imported from Italy. The winner will be announced on Saturday, March 31 and our goal is to raise as much as possible for the Lukens family.”
More than 600 tickets have been sold so far.
Last year the business raised $900 for the A.I. DuPont Pediatric Hospital in Delaware and in 2016 more than $1,000 was raised for the family of Sanford “Man Man” Harling III, who was
killed trying to save his father from a fire that consumed the family’s Norristown home.
“That story of the fire really hit home with us. How many 12-year-olds would do that? He had enough courage to go back into the burning house for his
father and it cost him his life,” Steve Carcarey said.
Along with many Italian traditions, Patrizia Carcarey, has grown up breaking open little hollow chocolate eggs, she said.
“Here in America, we do the chocolate bunnies, but in Europe, they do these hollow chocolate eggs at Easter, and the special thing about them is that there’s always a surprise inside,” she said. “It’s what all the kids in Italy
look forward to, because you never know what’s going to be inside. That’s the excitement of it. And the fact that we can help a local family is exciting for us.”
The couple noted that the raffle winner usually donates the egg to the family being honored.