Moorestown resident Vito Russo at his family business, Riccardo’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant in Browns Mills. “The only question asked to those who need assistance is, ‘How many people?’”
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended on Nov. 13, but Moorestown resident Vito Russo hasn’t stopped helping people.
“There’s a lot of people struggling with everything, anything that life has to throw at them,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with asking for a little bit of help, especially if you need it.”
The 43-day shutdown affected programs that included child care, nutrition assistance such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) and housing programs.
While President Trump signed a funding bill to end the impasse, Russo is still helping people who were affected by giving away free meals from his family business: Riccardo’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant in Browns Mills. The only question asked to those who need assistance is, ‘How many people?’
“The average person may tell you they need help, but the average person is embarrassed to show any proof of that,” Russo explained. “How about a pizzeria or a restaurant that just gives it to you?”
Although he currently doesn’t see an end to what he’s doing – no one is turned away regardless of where they’re from – it’s like a double-edged sword for Russo. There may be people who will take advantage of the help, he noted, but that’s on them.
The true definition of success, from Russo’s perspective, is feeling and seeing the joy that he’s bringing others.
“The gratification, the goodness that comes to you, the good feeling for helping others, nothing is better than that,” he pointed out. “Not jewelry, not a big house, not cars … The joy. That’s where the joy is – in helping others. That’s where the success is.
They’re happy and if it’s for just one moment that they are happy, that makes my moment too,” he added. “The government should never dictate how somebody eats – never. The government can dictate a lot, but the way somebody eats and feeds their family?
“That’s heartwrenching.”
Riccardo’s Italian Restaurant was started in 1974 by Russo’s father Salvatore, who originally emigrated from Palermo, Sicily. Since it’s been a thriving business for decades, it would almost be arrogant, Russo said, to not open the doors to people in need.
“I’m not here to judge anybody,” Russo observed. ” … I’ve kept God in my life. He always kept me humble. I didn’t always stick with him, but he always stuck with me. Stick with him with whatever you do in life … You’ll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse.
“Do your part. You can’t take (anything) with you. Do the best that you can.”
