Vineland, NJ, Teenager To Host Pasta Party For Neighbors In Need

You're invited to South Jersey's ULTIMATE pasta party! 🍝

When you donate some pasta to Dominic Mercado this weekend, you're actually giving back to the community at large. Let me explain.....

We received a message from a man named Carlos Mercado. He and his son Dominic are from Vineland where they'll be collecting food to help those in need this weekend. More specifically, Dominic has decided that for another year, he'd like to pay it forward for his birthday by collecting pasta and sauce donations.

via GIPHY 

Pasta party donation in Vineland

It's a big birthday from Dominic this year. He'll be 16-years-old!! He hatched the idea to collect for the Vineland Soup Kitchen back in 2020 for his birthday since he couldn't do much because of COVID-19. Word spread quickly throughout South Jersey of what Dominic was trying to accomplish with the help social media. It even reached Governor Murphy's ears. When he mentioned it during one of his daily briefings that year, everybody was talking about it. Carlos, Dominic's dad, says people were showing up from all different parts of the state with donations.

Dominic hopes that for his birthday this year, they'll have the biggest turnout yet.

via GIPHYDominic, and now his brother Sebastian, have been putting love of cooking and baking to good use over the last few years. He's been baking goods and sending them to church or to the soup kitchen. He even makes them for the Code Blue Warming Center. You can even see some of his creations on his Youtube channel Dom's Donuts and Delights.

If you're interested in donating to the "pasta party", it's kindly asked that your drop off any contributions to 942 E Grant Ave in Vineland between the hours of 8:30 a.m and 5:30 p.m on Sunday, April 14th. There's also a GoFundMe set up if you'd like to donate that way. Check it out HERE.

If we've got you craving Italian for dinner tonight, don't worry, we've got you covered: