The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
TWICE AS NICE
Mentor family continues yearly birthday food drive tradition
The Discenzo family of Mentor began holding a food drive in 2015, in lieu of getting birthday presents when twins Angelo and Abigail Discenzo were turning just a year old.
They raised about 120 pounds of food that year, and a new tradition was born.
This year, as the twins turned 7, the Discenzos raised about nine times that amount by holding their food drive Jan. 16 at the Saint Vincent DePaul Food Pantry in Mentor. Their final tally was 1,074 pounds of food — plus $400 in monetary donations.
“We started it for their first birthday, and it was basically because they’re the only grandchildren on either side, so they were showered with many
“We were not about to back down this year, we knew it had to happen.”
— Nicole Discenzo of Mentor
gifts for Christmas — and their birthday is right after Christmas,” said their mother, Nicole Discenzo.
“And my mom had suggested maybe doing a food drive instead of getting gifts,” she continued. “And so we decided to do that. The pantry was so excited to get all the food because right after Christmas they start to dwindle... so we just kept it going and it just snowballed from there, but in a good way.”
She said that they vowed in 2015 that they would try to raise more food for the pantry every year, and as donations from friends, family and community members grew in number with each food drive, the Discenzos have continued to meet their goal.
“Every year we’re going to beat it,” said the twins’ father, Rick Discenzo. “Whether I’ve got to go out and get some stuff or not, we’re going to beat it each year. But this year we didn’t have to get anything. We blew it out of the water without having to go purchase any of it.”
The family said they normally hold a party at the Mentor Lagoons Yacht Club, where all friends and family are invited to bring food donations for the pantry instead of presents — an event the kids said they like going to every year.
“We’re not trying to be geared towards gifts and whatnot, just more of us just getting together,” Rick Discenzo said.
However, under circumstances amid the pandemic, they said they decided to hold the drive directly at Saint John Vianney Church, where the pantry is located, and ask that donations be dropped off.
Nicole Discenzo said it was a neat experience, because the twins got to actually see for the first time the food pantry where the donations had been going.
“There’s a whole bunch of food in there,” said 7-yearold Abigail.
Nicole Discenzo said she knew that continuing the food drive this year was perhaps more important than ever, and the pandemic was not going to stop them from finding ways to make it work.
They even created an Amazon Wishlist for people to purchase and send non-perishable food items to them.
“We were not about to back down this year, we knew it had to happen,” she said.
“You know, it was going to have to work. And we were really hopeful to beat our 778 (pounds of food) from last year. And it was just amazing to not only beat it, but to beat the 1,000 mark, too.”
She added that a few years back, when the children were in preschool, they were gifted a book called “Maddi’s Fridge” by Lois Brandt which helped the twins understand how much the food donations helped people in need.
“It’s about a little girl who finds out that her best friend doesn’t have any food in her fridge and is trying to sneak her food,” she said. “And then she finally has to tell her mom, and then they decided to get a whole bunch of food together to bring it over to her.
“It was kind of neat because it was the first time I think that they actually realized what they did and how it impacts other people. So now the older they get, the more they understand how the food drive helps people and it makes them more excited.”
The Discenzos said they intend to continue their traditional birthday food drive every year — and never give up on breaking the donation record each year.
“We just need more people to drop off more food,” said Abigail.