Owner Of Long Island Pizzeria That 'Saved Peoples' Lives' Switches Gears

RONKONKOMA, NY — Richard Baer went to sleep one night and dreamt of pizza boxes surrounding him. It might not have been surprising — he owned Albert's Pizza in Ronkonkoma, at the time.

The dream came the day after he challenged God to show him how pizza could change peoples' lives.

He gave free pizzas to people with no specific program in mind, but the next day he decided to begin an official Pay it Forward campaign, in which customers could decorate a box for a specific cause and donate a $13 pizza to a deserving person.

"What happened was I challenged God to show me how pizza can change the world for me, know how I can make a difference with a pizza, basically," he said. "I challenged him to show me what a pizza could actually do."

Baer believes the challenge worked and that his pizza has some power to it.

"I saved peoples' lives with pizza," said Baer, 53, of Centereach.

It launched in 2020.

"What happened was back in the 2020 election and all the turmoil, and all the negativity, I felt I had to do something," he said, adding that he began giving boxes to people who needed them, to do something good, and spread "kindness and love in the world."

He made up the first box and that followed by two employees.

One of the first boxes went to a woman who was down on her luck.

When she nominated her, she was dumbfounded.

"She started crying," he recalled. "She had me crying."

He took photos of the people he gave the boxes to so that the donors could see who — and how — they helped.

One of the most endearing cases he remembered was that of a man who contemplated suicide, but decided he wanted to stop in for some pizza before he went home and made an irreversible decision.

From dealing with the public all day, Baer has always considered himself a strong people reader. That day, he saw the man was in distress, and asked him what was affecting him.

"Cancer," the man said.

The man's wife died of cancer, leaving him alone.

Baer offered him a free pizza and some words of encouragement, warming not only his belly but his heart.

It was good food for the man's soul.

Feeling much better, the man brought the pizza home and when he opened it up, tears welled up in his eyes.

Inside the pizza box was decorated with a hand-drawn giant pink bow symbolizing breast cancer awareness, as well as eternity hearts in purple and lime green. It featured the words, "From one family to another ... stay strong."

Those were the words that his wife spoke to him before she died.

It was a very simple but effective message. And it worked — the man later returned to tell him his story, and thanked him for changing his life.

He told him how he cut the box top off to bring to his bereavement support group, and some of his group members dropped by to support the pizzeria.

He later penned a letter to Baer, formally thanking him, so that he could place it on his wall.

The man wrote of how he felt depressed for about a year following his wife's death.

"I cried sad tears, but happy tears," he said. "The last month of her life, she told me, 'When I am gone, you have to be strong.' I knew at that time it was a sign from her, and since feel better."

Baer never knew the man, but he thinks about him fondly.

Another customer who became a friend told him how he was upset because he could not find a nice woman to have a relationship with. Right then and there, Baer asked him to pray on it with him, and the man did.

"You have got to believe it, to achieve it," he recalled telling the man. "You got to share it. You got to speak it to get it. You got to tell God what you want. He doesn't read minds, you know? Right. Speak it in, challenge them and tell him you deserve it."

Not too long thereafter, the man met the "woman of his dreams," he added.

The man is still shocked, but Baer is not.

He believes in the power of his pizza.

But the question is why did he feel that he had to challenge God?

In short, he was reconnecting with his faith.

"You start asking questions and looking for answers," he said, adding, "when all the distractions are calming down in your life when you get older."

"That's basically what was happening with me," he said.

"Okay. It's something that will always be shared with other people, and in that sharing you get to know others," Baer explained.

"I've seen your worst days, your best days, and just your everyday days," he said. "And, that's the truth."

It's something that he will miss.

Baer and his brother, Brian Jablonski, recently sold Albert's to new owners, but the pair expect they will keep up many of the business' traditions like the Pay it Forward program, as well as the franchise's famous upside-down slice pie — a thick, flaky crust with cheese covered with sauce first introduced by Albert's flagship pizzeria in Copiague.

Jablkonski called the Pay it Forward program a good thing that Baer started because it affected a lot of people. Customers sent boxes to nurses and police officers, as well as families in need and home-bound cancer patients.

"We would just drop off three pieces to them and say, 'This was sent from somebody that wants to help you guys out' and they would just cry at the door. You know, stuff like that; little things that touch people."

Both Baer and Jablonski said the long days behind the pizza counter took their toll on them, and they want a slower pace of life where they can relax more and enjoy family life.

Baer feels that his life's business has come full circle as the business is now being taken over by two 20-something young men, as he and his brother were 30 years ago. The pair's father once owned Francesa's in Hampton Bays, and Albert's was once Francesco's.

"There's a lot of similarities," he said.

Baer and Jablonski are not entirely calling it quits, though.

Baer bought a trailer — to take his act out on the road with The Little Pie at festivals and private parties, while Jablonski plans to work in security.

Baer said pizza has not only changed customers' lives, but his own in a lot of different ways over the years.

His customers became like family, while the business supposed him and his family, helping him buy a house and raise his family.

"It gave me a good life," he said. "I won't complain. I have nothing to complain about. I only have gratitude."