Solidarity: Americans order pizzas to feed Wisconsin workers protesting for worker’s rights

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You gotta love this story. A local pizza place in downtown Madison, WI donated some late night pizzas to feed union workers protesting for worker's rights at the capitol building, and when word got out of their good deed, people from all over the United States and the World started calling Ians Pizza to order pizzas to feed the protestors:

February 20th, 2011

We rarely take sides on any debate unless you want to talk about food — fresh vs. old, delicious vs. yucky, Wisconsin cheese vs. California cheese (whose cows are truly happier?). But other than that, we really just want to serve you the best food we can, using the best possible ingredients, with the best possible customer service.

Now, maybe you've heard a little bit about what's been happening in Madison this past week. Protests, marching, little ol' Wisconsin on the national news…sounding vaguely familiar?

Yes, we've seen tens of thousands of people vigorously exercising their right to freedom of speech, steps from our front door. We're not going to get too in-depth here (we are just pizza people, after all) but suffice it to say it's been a rather unusual mid-February downtown.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning we took a late-night call from folks still over at the Capital; they were wondering if they could have our end-of-night leftovers. Well, of course — we're always glad to hand out food at 3:30am! (That is pretty much our reason for existence… well, that and the house-made ranch dressing.)

The next day we got a handful of calls from folks throughout the country, people who had heard about our late-night donation. Then a few more the next day, and next thing, fast forward to 5pm on Saturday when we were so inundated with calls – – from over half the states in the Union and from international locales ranging from Canada to Denmark — that our normal business had to essentially be shut down so we could focus on feeding the protestors.

It takes a leap of faith to call a place you've never heard of, order a pizza that you'll never see, and just hope that those people on the other end of the phone do what they say they will. It's now 9am on Sunday, February 20th, and at last count we had sold over 430 of our signature 20" mac n' cheese pizzas to callers worldwide, and have at least 60 still waiting to be made so we could help feed what has turned into a city within a city.

When this is all over, we'll gather these order tickets, compile a list, post it on our website and Facebook and in-store, and we'll have a final count of who ordered what and just how many people we helped feed.

In the meantime, just know that we are so honored that you have entrusted us with feeding the people you're supporting and we're so grateful for your trust and your business — thank you so much!

If you want to order a pizza, here is the contact info:

State Street Hours

Mon – Sun: 11:00am – 2:30am

Address:
115 State St.
Madison, WI 53703

Phone:
608.257.9248 (ZA4U)

Ian's Pizza is also on Facebook.

Disclaimer: We have no affiliation or interest in Ian's Pizza. Never been there, I can't vouch for their pizza. But we do support our brothers and sisters in "the rising" in Wisconsin. Thanks to Ian's Pizza for doing the right thing.

(graphic is general clip art)