Hundreds Line Up to Get Free Pizzas

Nearly 200 persons lined up at a food bank in below-zero temperatures Monday to receive snack-food magnate Jeno Paulucci’s New Year’s gift to his economically depressed hometown--60,000 free pizzas.

The pizzas, worth about $80,000, will go to about 4,500 families using the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency’s network of 19 food distribution points in northeastern Minnesota. Each family will receive a dozen small pies.

“I feel very, very good today and a little emotional,” said Paulucci, founder of Jeno’s Inc. and a Hibbing native.