TEMPE, AZ — When SNAP benefits were delayed across Arizona, one Tempe restaurant stepped up in a big way to put food on the tables of those who needed it.
Rigatony’s Authentic Italian opened its doors and its kitchen, offering free hot family meals to anyone impacted by benefit lapses.
They expected to help maybe 20 people a day, but word spread, compassion multiplied, and they ended up serving more than 500 meals, averaging about 80 a day.
And it wasn’t just Rigatony’s.
Customers started adding $10 “kindness plates” to their own bills so the restaurant could prepare additional meals in their name, raising over $19,000. Even food vendors jumped in, donating ingredients so the giving could continue.
ABC15's Cameron Polom talked with the owner of Rigatony's about the community-wide effort that Uplifted Arizona during a time of need. Watch the full video in the player above.
