JAY — After the explosion at the Androscoggin Mill on April 15, Lynn and Matt Brennick, the owners of My Dad’s Place in North Jay, wanted to do something for the community. They decided to give away pizzas  Friday and other businesses soon offered to help.

Lynn said they had been closed since March 20 because of the coronavirus.

“We’re typically open when something like that happens,” she said. “This was a way to give back to the community.

“We’re calling it ‘Project Community Morale Booster’.”

Thursday was spent preparing. As part of the prep, 500 pizza boxes were assembled, protective masks stitched for the workers and supplies purchased.

Friday morning the Brennicks’ son, Spencer, and Tracy Taylor assembled pizzas. Small cheese or pepperoni pizzas and large half cheese/half pepperoni ones were placed in the oven and later removed when done by Matt Brennick.

Thomas “Tom” Goding, Goding and Son Building Contractor, had earlier delivered breakfast pizzas to Pixelle’s workers at the mill. Throughout the day he loaded his truck with pizzas to distribute at his 269 Main Street location.

April Van Steenburgh of Jay waited in the parking lot just before 10 a.m. for a pizza to be delivered to her car in order to maintain social distancing.

 

“I saw it on Facebook,” she said. “I’ve been missing their pizza. I can have some good pizza finally.”

Doreen and Gilbert Bellmore of Livermore Falls heard about it from Facebook and by word of mouth.

“This is so nice,” she said.

Gilbert added, “They do make the best pizza.”

When the first pizzas were delivered, there were about 10 cars waiting in the parking lot with another eight parked along the side of Old Jay Hill Road. Facebook posts noted there were 92 cars in line at 5 p.m. and 87 at 7:15 p.m.

One post read, “I have waited in line for three hours and plan to give a cash donation. And yes I would do it again. Hope we get pizza, but if not we tried to support a great business and some of the best people.”

A picture posted at 9:20 p.m. Friday showed the Brennicks and Goding holding the last four pizzas made that day. 454 pizzas were given away.

In a Facebook post Saturday, Lynn wrote, “We sincerely hope we didn’t leave anyone out. What started as us contacting our son to help us ( we thought it was going to be the three of us) quickly turned into an amazing spectacle of community and friends and family helping in a time when it’s not easy OR acceptable to gather people. We did it as safely and QUICKLY as possible. This idea came to fruition at about 2 p.m. Wednesday. By Friday morning, we had these people and businesses step up in a big way.”

Businesses and individuals who supported the free pizza project included Goding and Son Building Contractors, Wood Pellet Warehouse; OTIS Federal Credit Union; Knapp Tran-Sport; Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union; Spruce Mountain Pharmacy; Hilltop Collision Center; Mainely Sandblasting; Grimaldi Concrete Floors; Ashley Hafner, Augusta Natural Gas Page; Merrill’s Garage Inc.; Main-Land Development Consultants, Inc.; McAllister Accounting and Tax Services; Jay Auto Wash; Tammy Bubier and Megan Goodine. Several individuals worked Thursday and or Friday to make the project successful.

Lynn thanked the neighbors on Old Jay Hill Road for their patience as there was non-stop traffic all day.

“And we can not even begin to thank the community who decorated outside, took pictures, and left sweet notes and tips” she wrote on Facebook. “It was an incredible day and our hearts are full.”

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