Alumna connects with the community over breakfast A PASSION FOR PANCAKES

Fby Matthew Piechalak or more than half a decade, freshly made pancakes have been a vehicle to community building for USD alumna Amory Fratoni ’15 (BA).

Fratoni is the lead operations supervisor for Pancakes Serving Up Hope, a volunteer organization that provides hot breakfasts for people experiencing homelessness in San Diego. “The pancakes are the meal, but it’s way more than that,” Fratoni says. “It’s really about the community and the relationships you build — just talking to people can seriously change their day in a second.”

Fratoni, a senior payroll manager at Aya Healthcare, has met hundreds of people during her time serving flapjacks in a parking lot at K and 14th streets in San Diego’s East Village.

One specific encounter is top of mind when asked what validates her tireless efforts. A woman named Stacy joined the pancake line week after week, but rarely spoke to anyone, Fratoni recalls. “She was always very quick to get her food. Every weekend, I would make a point to talk to her or just say hi. At the end of our sessions, the volunteers circle up and we have a conversation about that day. We often have folks we’re serving join the group.”

“One Saturday, she was in our circle,” Fratoni continues. “She thanked us and pointed specifically at me and said, ‘I want to thank you because you have said hi to me every single day I’ve seen you.’ She then told me the story of how she had once overdosed on the sidewalk downtown and people just stepped over her and there was one person who actually stopped and got her help, so she appreciated that I went out of my way to say hi. Nobody should have to go through those experiences alone. This is bigger than pancakes. It’s bigger than me. It really does impact people’s lives.”

USD double alumnus Will Tate ’18 (CNP), ’19 (MS) founded Pancakes Serving Up Hope in 2014 with support from USD’s Changemaker Hub. Each Saturday, Tate, then an undergraduate, along with other volunteers — including USD students — would head downtown to flip pancakes for the local homeless community.

“Will is one of those unique people who just has the biggest heart for others,” Fratoni says.

Shortly after graduating, Fratoni joined Tate downtown. All it took was one experience and she was hooked. The two served as leaders for several years and when Tate moved away from San Diego, Fratoni took the reins.

“I became more and more involved, and before the pandemic, I can’t tell you a Saturday I missed in three years. Any given Saturday, we’d have upwards of 200 people come through the line.”

Everything changed in March 2020 with the pandemic. “We couldn’t go down there because it wasn’t safe, but we knew there was still a need,” Fratoni says.

Working with the Changemaker Hub’s Director of Social Change and Student Engagement

Juan Carlos Rivas, PhD, the group partnered with People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) San Diego to continue providing monthly meals for people experiencing homelessness. For the better part of three years, the volunteers found creative — and safe — ways to stay involved. But the effort was reduced to meal delivery with no social interaction due to health and safety protocols.

Following the height of the pandemic, the group is back to their usual location. They began once a month and are currently operating twice per month.

“We’re in the process of rebuilding the community and making sure people know who we are and where we’re at. The first weekend back, I walked around downtown letting people know the pancake line was back and they were hopping on their bikes flying back up to the location.”

The process has returned to what it was before — upwards of 25 volunteers meet at USD and then head downtown. The setup includes two camper grills attached to two propane tanks, cast iron skillets, whisks, spatulas, a massive mixing bowl and a 25-pound bag of pancake mix. All the food is funded by donations.

“It’s an assembly line. We can cook 16 pancakes at a time and the next table is where you have the toppings like butter, syrup and chocolate chips. Around the holidays, I bring candy canes as well as candy on Halloween. We also give everyone a banana and a bottle of water.”

Moving forward, Fratoni hopes to get back to making the program a weekly initiative, but she also knows continued efforts will one day have to fall to the next generation of volunteers.

“Right when I was out of college, I had all the time in the world, but now I’m very busy,” she says. “In an ideal world, we would get back to every weekend. I would love to keep it going and that means getting a strong group of people on campus who can be reliable on weekends.” www.pancakessuhope.org

1970s

[1975]

SUSAN REDELINGS (BA) writes, “My husband Bob and I welcomed our 11th grandchild this year. And our further luckiness includes that other lucky number, seven, as in 7x7 = 49 years of marriage!”

[1979]

JOSEPH LaRUSSA (BBA), ’09 (MA) recently received an award from Evangelical Catholic for Ad Extra service as a lay person in the secular community. This was the first award given at its inaugural conference, called Priest for an Apostolic Age. An active Catholic and native San Diegan, Joseph and his wife have three adult daughters and four grandsons. His program award biography notes that “He has a unique calling in the intersection of faith and business, working with Christian business owners and CEOs as an executive coach and peer advisory group chair.” It further notes his work with Saint Brigid Parish in San Diego. There, he facilitates a Connection to Christ group, a Whiskey and the Word men’s group, and recently served as rector for a Men’s Cursillo in Christianity weekend.

1980s

[1982]

ROBERT E. O’CONNELL III (BBA) has more than 35 years of multiline loss adjusting and loss control experience and currently is president of O’Connell International Arts, Inc. and managing partner of O’Connell International Advisors, Inc. He is an internationally recognized fine art expert within the insurance industry and the art world, with a Master of Arts degree in art history and professional licenses in claims handling and property and casualty brokerage, as well as surplus lines licenses. O’Connell International Advisors, Inc., represents fine art museums, dealers and collectors with their insurance needs, valuation and claims preparation. He frequently publishes and lectures to the insurance industry as well as the fine art world. His companies, OIA Productions, Inc., and Skipping

Stone Entertainment, have produced and financed television programs and documentary films on fine art-related subjects such as The Farnsworth House, The Art Detectives and Monumental Myths In 2020, he published his first novel, The Art of Spies , and in 2022 published the prequel, The Art of Spies: Prodigal Son . He is currently writing a sequel, The Art of Spies:

Last Judgment

DAN TRIGOBOFF (JD) has joined the faculty of St. Augustine’s University, a historically Black college in Raleigh, North Carolina. A longtime journalist, he covered law for the Los Angeles Daily Journal , Legal Times, American Lawyer Media , The ABA Journal and other publications, and covered media as senior editor at Broadcasting & Cable magazine. He earned a PhD in communication, rhetoric and digital media at North Carolina State University, and has taught at North Carolina State, Elon University and Methodist University. “I just turned 69 and have thought about retiring but I’m just not ready to do it,” he says. He lives in Eastover, North Carolina, with his wife, Debra Kohlman ’83 (BSN), a nurse practitioner at Duke University Medical Center. They have two adult children and recently celebrated their 38th anniversary.

[1984]

STEVE GAUVIN (BBA) writes, “I’ve retired after 38 years of sales in electronics industry, the last 26.5 years at Arrow Electronics. Enjoying life and the many blessings given to us. Our youngest daughter is a junior transfer student now at USD. Our middle daughter is finishing up law school on the East Coast and our oldest daughter is a nurse in Austin. I’m trying to get my bride of 28 years to join me in retirement. Life is grand!”

[1985]

GREG GIULIANO (BA), ’88 (MA) published his third book in June of 2022. He writes, “ The Next Normal: Transform Your Leadership, Your Team, and Your Organization quickly shot to No. 1 on Amazon.” He says that he and his family relocated to Portland, Oregon, a few years ago, though he still misses Alcalá Park and America’s Finest City.

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