Couple anonymously pays for family’s birthday party for 2-year-old son at Hoboken pizza shop
By Mike Marza
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HOBOKEN, New Jersey (WABC) — An act of kindness in New Jersey is sure to melt your heart like a slice of pizza.
It took place inside Napoli’s Brick Oven Pizza on Clinton Street in Hoboken, where Maverick and his friends capped off his second birthday with cupcakes.
When his mom and dad tried to pay the check, they got a huge surprise!
“That’s when they’re like, ‘yeah so we have to break this to you,'” mother Melissa Hill said.
“I told them there’s a little surprise for you guys, your tab is already cleared,” an employee said.
Melissa Hill said she screamed.
“I said what’s wrong what’s wrong?” her husband Justin Hill said. “And it was her screaming out of excitement or surprise, she was like ‘shut up, shut up.'”
A picture from the party captured the back of a couple. The strangers, who are parents of three kids themselves, told the waiter they wanted to remain anonymous after paying for Maverick’s entire pizza party.
“We are a homegrown community kind of place so to have our people come in and take care of each other,” Napoli’s Brick Oven Pizza owner Jocelyn Volpe said.
Volpe opened Napoli’s, their second location, eight years ago with her husband Frankie, who learned pizza making from his family’s Lombardi’s Pizza in Manhattan.
Napoli’s survived the pandemic shutdowns, but Frankie died of COVID in 2021.
“He’s so thrilled and smiling down and this is what it’s about, Napoli’s is a place to come with good people, good vibes, good food, good music — just a good time,” Volpe said.
Maverick may not remember his second birthday here, but his parents will. It was a pizza party that included a random slice of kindness.
“I would just like to say if they’re out there watching, I just wanted to say it really touched us. It really has a big impact,” Melissa Hill said.
“We’re just very grateful and surprised. It’s an act of kindness you don’t run into every day,” Justin Hill said. “We’re mindful to pay it forward as we can.”
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