It was a two-year wait before love came to town.

But when the Little Caesars Love Kitchen arrived, employees from the Roanoke Rapids store pitched in to help in the company's fight against hunger.

Local store franchise owner David Myers' request for the 18-wheeler was answered today when the rig, which travels across the United States and Canada, pulled up in front of the Union Mission.

The Love Kitchen is one of the ways the company aids in the fight against hunger, Myers said, feeding more than 2 million people since the program was established in 1985.

“The program is in so much demand it took two years to fulfill my request,” he said.

The Love Kitchen

The Roanoke Rapids store not only supplied the products, but supplied the staff to prepare the 50 free pizzas. The rig, kitchen and driver are supplied by the parent company.

After the rig pulled up around 3 p.m., the first of the pizzas went inside the door of the Union Mission around 5:30 p.m.

“We prepared fifty pizzas cut into eight slices with a total of 400 slices hoping to feed 200 people,” said Valerie “Pizza Lady” Nyiri, the Roanoke Rapids store manager.

Cody Birdsong and Dana Frierson, Roanoke Rapids store employees, worked the mobile kitchen.

“The visit says a lot about Little Caesar's Incorporated,” Myers said, “and what the community means to us.”