By Mindy Ragan Wood, Staff Writer – A restaurant has placed local investment as a high priority, donating 10 percent of their profits to community organizations.
Lori Socach, marketing director for the Piedmont Pizzeria, said the company has donated approximately $3,000 to the police department, fire department, the city, and soon the Piedmont Service Center.
“We’re just trying to touch everyone in the town to help out. We’re pretty family oriented. We just opened our buffet two weeks ago and it’s been really great. The community has really supported us,” she said.
City Manager Jason Orr said the funds will go into the general revenue account to be given to the fire department and police department as part of next year’s budget allowance.
“I have never heard a business doing that, just voluntarily do that. I think they’re having a big impact on the community. I really appreciate their generosity in giving back with the understanding that those funds will be put to good use back into the community,” Orr said.
Fire Chief Andy Logan said he was pleasantly surprised by the pizzeria’s generosity.
“We are extremely thankful,” he said. “They’re just great to work with ever since they opened and having their support means a lot. We’ve been fighting a lot of fires lately and we’ve had some equipment failures. Most of the money we aren’t expecting goes to safety, personal protective gear and new equipment.”
Police Chief Scott Singer said the unexpected generosity was welcome, but he wanted it to be clear that any donations on behalf of the police department does not mean special treatment by the department.
“I think he’s very civic minded and it’s certainly a good place to eat. For the naysayers it can mean they’ll think they’re building favoritism, but that’s not the case. I personally believe they are very civic minded, the gift is very generous. It should go into the general fund and be distributed through the budget process, because we don’t want the image of impropriety or the implication of obligation,” he said.
