Jersey Shore Magazine

Beneath the flare of a green and white canopy are a seemingly endless display of prepared foods in both heated and room temperature showcases as well as pyramids of gallon cans of tomatoes. • F a l l / h o l i d a y 2 0 1 3 This was not the first time the partners rose to the challenges of a major disaster. After the April 2009 earthquake that rocked central Italy in the night, leaving tens of thousands homeless, Joe Leone Introna spearheaded a relief fund for the town L'Aquila. Several times he personally visited Italy to deliver desperately needed items and food. There have been numerous other charitable acts for food banks and organizations like Covenant House. Many of them are "under the radar," beyond the public's view. Introna said they get fifty or more requests each month for charitable gifts. "I'd give to all of them if I could," he said. He and Hilla budget each month what they can donate to worthy causes; the choices can be difficult. "Sometimes people are sore that we don't give to them." Introna has strong convictions about giving: it is not just good business sense. He sees it as an obligation to the loyalty of their customers and that it helps to make the community a better place. It is his way of saying "thank you for choosing us." With s h o r e Their business operations were closed for six days; but Joe Leone's steadily provided food for the first fourteen days and continued to supply something every day for a month. They provided food in trays and gave raw produce away, making it impossible to put numbers on how many benefited from their efforts. Doubtlessly, they provided food for thousands of meals. Looking back on almost a year since Sandy's aftermath, Introna knows they were lucky. In Point Pleasant Beach, the ocean rushed down the streets and reached the railroad tracks, just a few hundred feet from his downtown facilities. He mentioned he felt something akin to "survivors' guilt" because he had been spared so much of the financial and emotional toll of the Superstorm. j e r s e y meals south of his Point Pleasant Beach operations center to the workers who were clearing the fragmented homes and scattered utility poles. Introna felt as though he had landed on another planet. "I thought I was on the moon," he said, describing the phantasmagoric images he witnessed. "I saw fish, sharks, and squid lying in the roads." To cross the breach where the ocean had crossed the barrier island in Mantoloking, he had to transfer the food to Humvees to reach the enormous destruction all the way to Seaside Heights. "Some of the emergency workers had not eaten for two days. They literally ran to the trucks, he said." In the days that followed, Hilla said he found big rewards in small ways. One person had received unlabeled pasta from the emergency handouts. This man knew by its distinctive flavor it had come from Joe Leone's; when he saw them again, he expressed his gratitude. Gordon Hesse continued on page 50 49

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