When nights grow longer and colder in Detroit, many children have to go without thick coats or snow boots. Sicily’s Pizzeria is fighting to change that with its first-ever coat drive.

Since the beginning of November, the pizzeria has collected roughly over a hundred coats and snow boots. Owner Ali Beydoun hopes to collect 300 for his first donation drive.

To encourage donors, Beydoun offered 50% off pizza orders but he said that many customers walked in just to drop off donations. As a first-generation Lebanese-American, he feels fortunate that the community surrounding his pizzeria is so interwoven that the support came easily.

“Community is our home and family,” he said. “None of our activities is ever documented hence we love to stay involved with small organizations that make the best out of our involvement.”

The drive ends on New Year’s Eve so there is plenty of time for Detroit customers to stop by the pizzeria to enjoy a snack for a heartwarming cause.

To Beyhoun, this pizzeria is more than a dining establishment since he took over in 1999. “Sicily’s is a neighborhood staple,” he said. “We work, live, and shop here. Our customers are our friends and neighbors. It’s what we love and do every day from pizza to service to talking with customers.”

Recently, his pizzeria has garnered attention. Food reviewer, Arthur Bovino who goes by Pizza Cowboy, visited Sicily’s and left impressed with Beyhoun’s craft. He wrote on his Instagram: “I’ve eaten a ton of pizza in ’19 at hundreds of places, but this one may be the biggest sleeper and most inspiring. Enough to make me want to revisit a pizza scene I feel fairly safe saying I’ve pretty adequately canvassed… just to see how things turn out.”