Pizzas 4 Patriots has teamed with Rich Products Corp., Buffalo, NY, and DHL Express to hand off piping hot pizzas to troops serving abroad. The 5,000 pizzas will touch down in Afghanistan just in time for Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 1, so soldiers can enjoy a taste of home, while watching the NFL championship game.

“Having served overseas, I personally know that having a taste of home on Super Bowl Sunday is a powerful experience for troops stationed abroad,” says retired Master Sergeant Mark Evans, founder of Pizzas 4 Patriots. “I am grateful to Rich Products Corp. and DHL Express for making this experience possible for our brave servicemen and women.”

In its seventh year, the nonprofit organization Pizzas 4 Patriots will send enough pizza to feed every U.S. soldier stationed in Afghanistan.

“Pizza 4 Patriots heard about Rich’s new pizza topping capability in Crest Hill, IL, and asked us shortly before Christmas if we would be willing to provide fully-topped pizzas for a Super Bowl pizza party in Afghanistan,” says Donna Reeves-Collins, managing director, foodservice marketing, Rich Products Corp. The answer was a resounding, “Yes!”

“Our Crest Hill team quickly put together a plan, and arranged to prepare 291 insulated containers, each holding 15 16-inch cheese pizzas and enough dry ice to keep them frozen until they reached their first stop (Kuwait) en route to Afghanistan,” says Reeves-Collins. “One of our key values at Rich’s is bettering our communities, and there is nothing better we could think of than helping Pizza 4 Patriots to make a positive difference in the lives of our service men and women stationed so far away from home.”

DHL Express employees have loaded the pizzas onto direct U.S. flights to the Middle East, re-icing the pies along the route and tracking the shipments along the way. The pizzas will be distributed to Bagram Airbase and then onto various forward operating bases in Afghanistan. DHL Express will provide final, door-to-door delivery of the pies, working closely with the U.S. military to ensure the pizzas are delivered fresh and ready to eat at the various military bases.