What does pizza have to do with supporting good things happening in the local community? Everything, says our culinary director Jordan Wallace, and as an example, the Pizzeria Locale Community Pizza Box series continues this month through Pizzeria Locale Denver’s partnership with two amazing nonprofits: Be A Good Person and Access Gallery.

Be A Good Person isn’t just an aspirational slogan, it’s also a Denver-based clothing brand with a passion for positivity and enabling a bright future for society. As they tell their story, “There are many talented and fortunate people who will never reach their full potential due to their bad habits and pessimistic outlook on life. But there are also many less fortunate people, who strive to be positive and work harder than those that take their skill-set or blessings for granted. Instead of supporting the current trends of negativity, our #1 goal is to remind us all to approach our days with an optimistic, positive, and refreshed outlook. We believe that positive change truly starts with within ourselves, one person at a time.”

Access Gallery is an inclusive nonprofit Denver-based organization that engages the community by opening doors to creative, educational, and economic opportunities for people with disabilities so they can access, experience, and benefit from the arts. “Access Gallery’s presence is a continual reminder of the equalizing power of art, breaking down social barriers and becoming a place where all feel welcome to create, to question, and to learn from each other.”

“Our partnership started with a trade—pizza for art,” says Damon McLeese, executive director of Access Gallery, “and has now blossomed into a project that helps both organizations grow and meet their missions. Our partnership with Pizzeria Locale truly shows what happens when a company invests in a community.” He’s right—and the integration with the positive outlook and supportive nature of Be A Good Person makes for a brilliant celebration of that community investment.

To produce the March 2022 pizza box, the team at Be a Good Person came together with two Access Gallery resident artists, AJ Kiel and Josiah Lee Lopez. Kiel leaned into his love for transportation, pulling design inspiration from buses, trains, and trucks around Denver, the result being an amazing portrayal of cityscapes and urban life. He even introduces us to a new character, the Light Bulb Head Dude, who’s a central character on March’s box! For his part, Lopez is a well-known Denver muralist and artist whose work consists of graffiti, illustration, and painting inspired by popular culture and historical events relevant to a Latinx identity. Kiel and Lopez became a dynamic team and worked together to create the design for the March Community Pizza Box.

Over 45,000 of these outstandingly beautiful pizza boxes have been printed locally and are distributed at our four Pizzeria Locale Denver locations. On Tuesday, March 22nd, Pizzeria Locale will host a market-wide fundraiser with 33% of all sales from the four Denver pizzerias donated directly to the Access Gallery. Orders can be placed in advance and are always encouraged through the Pizzeria Locale Denver app, online, or in person at any of our four metro area locations.

As we honor our own mission to reach out to others, we’re working to honor the missions of the agencies and nonprofits with which we work, and it’s such a delight for all of us when creative unexpected works of art become the result. “Over the years, we’ve come to appreciate the value Access Gallery provides to the Denver community and the artist community,” says Pizzeria Locale’s brand manager Chris Donato. “It’s wonderful to see them continue to grow and evolve as they achieve their mission and we’re thrilled to be included in a small way on their journey. Also, this pizza box is so rad, I’m saving a few for myself!”

Yes: you can be a good person and enjoy great pizza… and in doing so, help promote and protect Denver’s precious nonprofit organizations.