+
upworthy
More

Remember that pizzeria that was feeding the homeless? See what happened when you shared their story.

If you were one of many who shared this story, here's what you helped make possible.

You may recall the story of Rosa's Fresh Pizza from the first time we covered it back in March 2015.

The Philadelphia-based eatery is making sure kindness isn't just a slogan in the City of Brotherly Love. They invite customers to pay it forward by pre-purchasing $1 slices of pizza for homeless patrons.

And people happily chip in.


Our interview with Mason Wartman, owner of Rosa's, and some of his customers was viewed over 35 million times on Facebook alone.

And you, Internet, took a page out of the pay-it-forward playbook, sharing the story over 800,000 times!

Scroll down to watch the interview.

Since then, Wartman says, business at Rosa's has been picking up steam.

His email update four months later had us smiling ear-to-ear:

"It has been more than three months since you posted our story on Upworthy. It's been a CRAZY past couple months, but the business is both making more money and helping WAY more people than ever before."
—Mason Wartman

As of June 2015...

  • Rosa's has given away more than 23,000 slices (a 130% increase in just four months!) and is providing meals free of charge to up to 100 people on any given day.
  • The uptick in business means Wartman needs more employees. And true to Rosa's pay-it-forward spirit, he's hiring through agencies that connect homeless folks with jobs.
  • And they've even started selling official Rosa's apparel, which features designs by homeless artists. Half of all the revenue goes right back to supporting Philly's homeless community through pay-it-forward pizza. So far, T-shirt sales have funded a full 10% of donated slices.

"Making life a little easier to BEAR, one slice at a time!" Photos courtesy of Mason Wartman.

That's why theirs is a story worth sharing over and over again.

Not only does it generate more attention for this really great program (which in turn generates more food for the homeless), but it sends a powerful and unexpected message:

Business can thrive on kindness.

If this is the first time you're hearing about Rosa's, check out our interview with Wartman. And of course, pay it forward and pass it on.


Time travel back to 1905.

Back in 1905, a book called "The Apples of New York" was published by the New York State Department of Agriculture. It featured hundreds of apple varieties of all shapes, colors, and sizes, including Thomas Jefferson's personal favorite, the Esopus Spitzenburg.






Keep ReadingShow less

No better time to grab a little shut eye.

For those in the military, sleep can mean the difference between life and death. But shut-eye can be very hard to come by, especially during active conflict.

According to Sharon Ackman, the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School developed a scientific method to help its pilots fall asleep. Through this technique, 96% of the pilots were able to fall asleep in two minutes or less.

Keep ReadingShow less

Melissa Pateras explains how dry cleaning works.


Have you ever wondered what happens at the dry cleaners? Or are you like me, who just assumed the people at the dry cleaners were wizards and never questioned their magic? Turns out, dry cleaners aren't magic and there's actually a pretty interesting explanation of how they came to be and what they do.

Melissa Pateras is known on Tiktok for her laundry knowledge. Seriously, her ability to fold laundry is hypnotizing. This time, she created a video explaining what actually takes place at the dry cleaner and the internet is aghast.

Before Pateras explained what happens in the mysterious world behind the counter of a dry cleaner, she asked a few of her friends what they thought dry cleaning was. Their answers were...interesting to say the least.

One friend surmised, "You put it in a box, right...and then you let some wind, really fast wind, blow around on your clothes and it wipes off all the dirt." The friend, whose username is @unlearn16, continued with her working hypothesis, saying that the clothes are then blasted with infrared heat to sterilize the garments. While that is certainly an interesting theory, that's not what happens.

Keep ReadingShow less

What dog is best for you?


PawsLikeMe might know you better than you know yourself.

Hello from the other siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!!! I'm a dog and I love youuuuuuuu!!!

Because PawsLikeMe knows about your dreams.

Your DOG dreams, that is.

How? A dog-human personality quiz!

A sophisticated one, too! From their website:

"The personality assessment is based on 4 core personality traits that influence the human-canine bond; energy, focus, confidence, and independence."

It also takes into account environmental factors and other special circumstances as well.

It's not uncommon for dogs that are adopted to be returned because they just aren't compatible with their owner's life.

Keep ReadingShow less
Education

A dad's hilarious letter to school asks them to explain why they're living in 1968

"I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium."

Earlier in the week, Stephen Callaghan's daughter Ruby came home from school. When he asked her how her day was, her answer made him raise an eyebrow.

Ruby, who's in the sixth grade at her school in Australia, told her dad that the boys would soon be taken on a field trip to Bunnings (a hardware chain in the area) to learn about construction.

The girls, on the other hand? While the boys were out learning, they would be sent to the library to have their hair and makeup done.

Keep ReadingShow less
via Twitter

Everyone's childhood is different. But there are common objects, sights, sounds, smells, and memories from elementary school that most Gen Xers and Millenials share.

Personally, when i think back to being in elementary school in the '80s, I remember the taste of the chocolate ship cookie we got on Fridays (with the pizza). The humiliation of getting nailed in the back during nation ball. And the grumbling, grinding sound that happened when you slipped a disk into the drive on an Apple IIe computer.

Keep ReadingShow less