Around 1,900 help family at ‘Pizza Palooza’

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Earlier this summer, Pizza Palooza gave people a chance to enjoy some local pizza while helping a local family fundraise for the treatment of their young son with autism.

Bryan Owens, a member of the Optimist Club of St. Clair Shores, said the idea for the fundraiser came to him after he saw comments on Facebook asking who had the best pizza in the city.

“I thought we could put it to the test and see exactly who has the best,” Owens said.

Owens contacted 33 businesses in St. Clair Shores and other cities, and received 13 responses. He passed out flyers at Junefest.

“I thought we were going to get a couple hundred people, and I just thought it would be something fun to do, maybe get a fundraiser and use it in the Optimist’s Club,” Owens said. “And hopefully make a couple thousand dollars.”

The event garnered the attention of around 1,900 eventgoers. Owens said that Party Adventure donated 700 plates, which he thought would be enough to cover the event.

“I got a call at the tent that was selling the tickets, because I was in back at the beach house trying out the pizza, that by 1 o’clock we were out of plates,” Owens said.

Around $9,000 of the money fundraised went to the Kemp family to help their son, 3-year-old William Kemp, who has autism, get stem cell treatment. Heidi Kemp, his mother, said the treatment will reduce brain inflammation, help digestive issues, and repair damaged brain cells and tissues.

“Which in return helps with the children eating and it helps with their speech, and they regain their speech,” she said. “And it helps with cognitive and expressive and receptive language. It’ll allow them to understand directions and to be able to focus better. So it completely changes their world.”

Owens said Michelle Sand, who is William’s grandmother, reached out to him about possibly fundraising to get the treatment. She teaches Zumba at the St. Clair Shores Senior Activity Center and Heidi said the original idea was to have a Zumba fundraiser.

Two sessions are recommended for the treatment, and their first session is scheduled in September. Heidi said thanks to the Optimists, they’re able to give William the treatment.

“Very, very excited,” Heidi said. “Very grateful. We weren’t expecting (this), we were expecting a Zumba fundraiser and we got Pizza Palooza. So it’s pretty cool.”

The whole event raised around $16,000, Owens said.

Heidi said though they had a lot of friends and family support, the support they felt from the community was touching.

“We were just taken back by such support, and we have nothing but gratitude and appreciation to everybody that came and supported him,” Heidi said. “It’s just an indescribable feeling. Can’t really put it into words how it makes you feel when you see a community rally around your child.” 

Heidi said with the treatment, hopefully, William will start to have some speech and gut health changes.

Awards were given out to businesses during the St. Clair Shores City Council Meeting on July 15. Owens said that the local businesses that participated saw an increase in patronage, and even helped a couple of people find employment at the restaurants.

The awards are as follows:

• Best Round Pizza in St. Clair Shores: Detroit Style Pizza Company

• Best Square Pizza: Phillies Original Cheesesteaks

• Best Gluten-Free Pizza: Detroit Style Pizza Company

• Overall Best Pizza in St. Clair Shores: Detroit Style Pizza Company

• People’s Choice Award: Ray’s Pizza

Sponsors for the event included Trader Todd’s Marina, Party Adventure, Shelby Construction Services LLC and Roseville Vending. Owens said that most of the sponsors came to him.

Owens said he would love to host the event every year. He’s heard nothing but positive feedback on social media.

“Even the people that had negative feedback saying that we ran out of pizza, I think is positive feedback,” Owens said.

Owens said it was a great event because it brought people together. He would like to thank all of the sponsors that participated, the residents, volunteers and the business owners.