Warwick Restaurant Keeping the Spirit Alive of Teens Taken Too Soon

A Warwick, Rhode Island restaurant is creating a lot of chatter surrounding their newly released menu, but the food items are hardly the attraction. Angelica and Michael Penta of Gel’s Kitchen wanted to honor four Rhode Island teens that lost their lives over the past few years to ensure their legacy lives on, so they will be offering special meals that give back to each child’s foundation.

Gel’s Kitchen

Gel’s Kitchen has been a West Warwick staple for the past eleven years. Five and a half years ago, they opened another location in Warwick, starting out as a pizza shop. That’s when the trend of giving back started.

“In 2017, Gianna Cirella had passed, so we made 'The Gianna' pizza,” said Angelica. “Everyone loved it and people were all coming in to support and donate to her fund.”

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Two and a half years later, the Warwick location switched over to a breakfast menu and hoped to continue to give back to the community, but a busy schedule and the pandemic got in the way.

Coming Up With a Plan to Give Back

The years went on and one tragedy after another seemed to strike local communities in Rhode Island. The desire to help never left Angelica and Michael.

They decided to form a special menu, with meals dedicated to four teens that have lost their life. Gianna Cirella, Maddie Potts, Matthew Dennison, and Olivia Passaretti will be featured on the Gel’s menu and at least ten percent of sales of their meals will go straight to the corresponding foundation.

Choosing the Children to Be Featured

Angelica hopes to help more families in the future but decided to start with four teens that have foundations already set in place. They are families that she has personally worked with or spoken to ensure they know exactly where the money goes.

“I just wanted to do something special,” said Angelica. “I have a teenage son myself and I can’t even imagine what these parents feel or are going through. This is my way of making sure that their names stay alive and people will always remember them.”

Keep scrolling to learn more about each teen, their special meal, and the foundation their families have created to keep their memory alive.