Across our state, people are still struggling to put food on the table.
According to Connecticut Foodshare, food insecurity rates are just as high as they were during the peak of the pandemic.
But there's a restaurant and bakery in Norwich looking out for those in need. For years, La Stella Pizzeria has fed people experiencing homelessness or those who may be dealing with food insecurity.
"For everybody in my family, food is love," restaurant owner Justin Burrows said.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
Burrows took over the restaurant in January 2020. Then, two years later, he expanded and opened La Stella Market and Bakery in Taftville.
"If it was up to me, I'd come every day," Andrew Scheuermann, of Norwich, said.
Scheuermann was there having lunch on Thursday.
Local
"Usually, I get the pasta Bolognese. It's the best on the planet," Scheuermann said.
But the restaurant and bakery are not just known for its fresh, New York-style pizzas, gourmet Italian dishes or pastries or bread. It's also known for something that isn't on a menu. A key ingredient they use every day: kindness.
"I think we have a collective responsibility to take care of one another. What other way to do that than food, feed people," Burrows said.
Burrows has a table of free food set up outside his bakery. But, in recent weeks, he has seen it go very quickly.
"People were coming up there and taking everything off the table before I could even post about it being there so I said food insecurity must be a big problem," Burrows said.
Connecticut Foodshare said people are finding it harder to make ends meet with the price of groceries and interest rates on the rise on top of other household expenses.
"Oftentimes, groceries are the things that they decide to go without. Those are the things they can't afford," Jason Jakubowski, CT Foodshare CEO, said.
Jakubowski said his organization distributed roughly 800,000 meals to the city of Norwich just last year alone.
Meanwhile, Burrows is doing his part to feed others with something called 'The Lefty's Special,' named after his Great Uncle Lefty who would offer people food the minute they would walk through the door.
"You know, we live in Connecticut, and he lived in New York, and he would say, 'Send anybody that's hungry, send them to me. Come on,'" Burrows said.
Burrows is now walking in Uncle Lefty's footsteps. Anyone who orders the 'Lefty's Special' can get free slices of pizza, soup, salad or a pasta with coffee or water.
We spoke to one man who came in to enjoy one of those meals.
"It feels good," Justin Phillips, of Norwich, said.
