Case of water will get you a Metro pizza for free

When Metro Pizza co-owner John Arena announced that anyone who brings in a case of bottled water would get a free cheese pizza in return, he expected to collect a couple of hundred cases. By Thursday the total was more than 1,400 — and counting, because the drive goes through Monday.

If that seems like a lot of free pizzas, it is, but Arena is philosophical as well as philanthropic.

“It was something we really needed to do,” he said. “And we learned a lesson from it. We learned that people want to be generous, they want to help, but they need an outlet. You need to make it as seamless as possible — just having a dropoff point, a simple thing like that.”

Arena said one young woman purchased 100 cases at a Smith’s next to one of the pizzerias and the store delivered it by hand cart to Metro.

“She didn’t even want the pizzas; she just wanted to help,” he said.

Actually, he said, quite a few people who contributed water didn’t take the free pizza.

“We tried to get them to take it, of course, but that’s not what they were doing it for,” Arena said, estimating Metro’s four participating locations gave away 900 pizzas. Businesses including Naked City Pizza, Coca-Cola and U.S. Foods also contributed. One of Arena’s pizza-making friends in Chicago even contributed a pallet of 100 cases.

Arena said the idea for the water-collection drive was rooted in a wholesale bread delivery made by baker and general manager Chris Decker to a downtown business, where he saw a homeless person dead on a sidewalk nearby.

“Someone said it was probably dehydration,” Arena said. “It just stuck in his mind; this person may have died for lack of a bottle of water.

“We don’t finish a glass of water; we pour it down the drain. We let the shower run longer than we need to. Something we don’t even think about could save somebody’s life.”

The water is to be donated to Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, Three Square food bank, The Shade Tree and Safe Nest.

Arena said he thinks people are realizing they need to pitch in and not rely on government to help.

“If we’re going to make any kind of impact on our community, it’s up to us,” he said. “I’ve done it myself; I’ve seen somebody in need and said, ‘Somebody will do this.’ The somebody has to be us.”

Arena said Metro plans to repeat the drive every summer, and he expects it will keep growing.

“We’re already thinking about curbside pickup, to make it as easy as we can for people to participate.”

In the meantime, he said, “We’re looking forward to a big weekend.”

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.