‘It’s just about giving something back’

Sally’s dishes up free pies for medical personnel

NEW HAVEN — It’s hard work keeping people safe and treating people who are sick in the midst of a worldwide pandemic — but let’s face it, things may look just a little better when the free Sally’s Apizza arrives at your medical facility or at your table.

Sally’s, one of New Haven’s legendary, worldrenowned apizza joints — number 9 in America, according to the Daily Meal — reached out to “all the brave doctors and nurses” and EMT workers “on the front lines fighting this pandemic” Tuesday and fed them free Sally’s pies.

That’s right: a free small or medium pie with any toppings, all day long.

As might be expected, plenty of people took advantage of the offer.

“We’ve gotten a lot of traction and people are coming down,” said Rob Nelson, Sally’s director of operations. “A lot of people are calling in to pick them up at a certain time,

but it’s mostly walkups for takeouts” because it was a little cold, he said.

Asked how much it’s costing, Nelson said, “How much? I don’t know. We’re not so much worried about how much it costs. It’s just about giving something back.”

Among those who took advantage of the offer was at least one local doctor who is home in isolation with COVID-19. Dr. Nate Wood, a primary care resident at Yale, posted on Instagram, “And they even delivered mine because they know I have COVID!”

“With Thanksgiving coming up, who deserves thanks more than nurses and doctors — working overtime to care for our community?” said Nelson in a release. “We appreciate their grit and hard work, and ... we’d like to give a little something back.”

Sally’s said in the release, “We hope that in some small way this helps our heroes power through these difficult times.”

Photos by Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media Above, Ivan Parra, a Sally’s Apizza employee, serves free takeout pizza Tuesday to Yale New Haven Hospital employees, from left, nurse Alienne Salleroli, Priscilla Steve and nurse Curri Bower. In the image below, Sally’s Katie Coland, left, serves a free pizza to Bridgeport Hospital critical care nurse Jessica Wojiski.