If you like pizza and you get the urge and you’re anywhere close to downtown, you might want to check out the Alpha Pizzeria.
No this is not a restaurant review. But a review about a man you could call one of San Diego’s community heroes.
The new Alpha Pizzeria is in the East Village area on 14th Street and it is run by this guy, who happens to be the CEO of the Alpha Project who also runs Alpha Square which is where you will find the Alpha Pizzeria.
Bob McElroy is his name and helping the homeless not be homeless is his mission.
And his mission has brought him lots of attention, and never more so than over the last year, as the city grapples with trying to come up with ways to solve one of the worse homeless problems in the country.
His Alpha Pizzeria, where all the proceeds will go toward helping him with that mission. is just the most recent piece of a life-saving mosaic that he has created through many years that includes the Alpha Square apartments where formerly homeless people now live.
He also plans to open another 50 or more apartments elsewhere along El Cajon Boulevard to keep the homeless in that area of the city from being homeless.
And there are a dozen other programs for the homeless the Alpha Project has from here to Oakland with the mission being to put homeless people on a path toward being self-sufficient.
And that’s why the residents of Alpha Square who work at the new Alpha Pizzeria are in training programs to equip them to get a job, to keep a job and to get the confidence in life to make their lives better.
You ask Bob McElroy what San Diego needs to do to solve its homeless problem and he’ll tell you. He’s not shy. Because he cares, And he’s praying that city officials are listening to what he says.