Picazzo’s to donate $1 for every dessert sold during the month of April
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
When Picazzo’s Healthy Italian Kitchen Managing Partner Chris Disney launched the restaurant’s fundraising campaign for autism research in 2021, he had no indication that the following year his own daughter Collyns would be diagnosed with Rett Syndrome.
Rett Syndrome is a rare genetic neurological disorder that falls on the Autism spectrum and through family connections, the Disneys were connected with BloomKidz Wellness & Recreation, the nonprofit clinic where 3-year-old Collyns has been receiving comprehensive occupational therapy, speech therapy, feeding therapy, behavioral therapy, and physical therapy to help stave off the effects of Rett Syndrome.
This condition leads to severe impairments affecting nearly every aspect of life: speaking, walking, eating, and breathing. For the entire month of April, Picazzo’s will be donating $1 for every dessert sold to BloomKidz.
Chris says he and his wife, Ang, knew they found the right place when they first met with BloomKidz Co-founders Katie and Daniel Feavel, parents of five children, three with Autism and two with additional medical complexities.
The Feavels created BloomKidz out of a necessity to provide their own children with integrated therapy. They said there was no place where families like theirs could receive collaborative multidisciplinary therapy.
“The staff at BloomKidz treat our daughter as if she were their own,” says Ang.
“Therapy is the best thing we can do for Colly right now and the help she is receiving there is helping her hold on to her physical capabilities like walking and using her hands, while we wait to get her into a pediatric clinical trial for gene therapy that could dramatically improve the outcome of her life.”
Since BloomKidz was founded in 2022, the clinic has grown to include 30 clients and a staff of 60. The founders are expanding into an adjacent building, where they will welcome children with complex needs over age five, with the inclusion of integrated academy services.
Guests can dine at any Picazzo’s location — Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Tempe/Chandler, Sedona, Gilbert, Arrowhead — and $1 from every dessert ordered during April will be donated to BloomKidz.