Stevi B's Pizza Cooking up Kindness for Kids

Even though school’s out for summer, Stevi B’s Pizza is ensuring metro Atlanta kids have school supplies this fall with its Kids in Need fundraiser, June 27 through July 1.

Stevi B’s Pizza, an Atlanta-based restaurant franchise, has partnered with Kids In Need Atlanta, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit that provides school supplies to kids whose parents may have trouble purchasing them. During the week of the fundraiser, all the Stevi B’s Pizza franchises in metro Atlanta will donate a portion of their sales to Kids In Need Atlanta. School supply collection bins will also be placed at each location.

Kellie Morvillo, director of field marketing for Stevi B’s Pizza, explained that partnering with Kids in Need was a natural fit.

“It’s a smaller more intimate foundation that really gives back to the counties that this particular campaign is surrounded in,” she said. “It was a really good fit and we’re so active in schools that that’s basically who they are; kids in need with school supplies. And that’s exactly who we wanted to target.”

Kids In Need Atlanta may be small, but their impact is widely felt. Last year the non-profit served 252,000 kids in 10 metro Atlanta school districts. In order to participate in the Kids In Need program, 80 percent of a school’s students must be enrolled in the free or reduced lunch program. Teachers from that school are then allowed to make an appointment at the Kids In Need Atlanta store. Teachers can take anything they need free of charge. Most teachers leave with $800 to $1,000 in new school supplies, said Judy Stamps, director of product procurement for Kids In Need Atlanta.

“We did not know we were going to be as vital as we are,” said Stamps. “We thought we were just going to be in addition to what they have that they would get extra stuff, but it’s turning out that we are the main suppliers in so many cases.”

According to statistics from Kids In Need, there are more children in Atlanta that live in poverty than in any other state and 48 percent of these children live in families whose annual income is less than $15,000 a year.

To celebrate this new campaign, Stevi B’s has put up 22 billboards around Atlanta of Atlanta kids who love “weird pizza.” These kids were selected from a contest that was held on Stevi B’s Facebook page.

Kids in Need Atlanta services 19 schools in Cobb County, including several schools in Smyrna. , , , and are all Kids in Need Atlanta participants.

Stevi B’s Pizza’s Smyrna store, located at 4480 South Cobb Drive, will donate 50 cents a person during the week of the fundraiser. Morvillo reminded customers to mention the fundraiser to the cashier at check-out to ensure the donation is counted.