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CT rolls out “The Pizza State” vanity license plate, proceeds will go towards CT Foodshare

Conrad Lewis
/
ϳԹ
Jacob Jakubowski, CEO of ϳԹ Foodshare, Tony Guerrera, Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Gov. Ned Lamont, and Anthony Anthony, Chief Marketing Officer of Statewide Marketing & Tourism, unveiled a new “pizza plate” on July 28th, 2025 in Wallingford, ϳԹ to raise funds, and awareness around ϳԹ's growing rate of food insecurity.

ϳԹ is facing a growing rate of food insecurity. According to ϳԹ Foodshare, about one lack a steady source of food. So, the ϳԹ Department of Motor Vehicles is rolling out a new “pizza plate” to raise funds, and awareness.

Proceeds from the license plate will go towards ϳԹ Foodshare, the state’s largest food bank. Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled the plate Monday, which reads “The Pizza State” and features an image of the governor’s go-to pie.

“It’s got my favorite, a pepperoni pizza,” he said. “That’s not so bad!”

Jacob Jakubowski, CEO of ϳԹ Foodshare, commended the efforts of Gov. Lamont and his administration to partner with food banks. Jakubowski says hunger is no small issue in ϳԹ.

“There’s about 515,000 ϳԹ residents who don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” Jakubowski said. “And it’s all across the state of ϳԹ. We serve all 169 towns. I can’t tell you that there’s one town that’s less affected than the other.”

Food banks in ϳԹ were strongly affected by slashes in federal funding cuts earlier this year. Food banks in anticipation of President Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill.” But Jakubowski says food banks are still feeling the pressure.

“We’ve lost 35 trailer-loads of food,” Jakubowski said. “It’s about 1.6 million pounds of food that we were supposed to receive that we’re not receiving.”

Gov. Lamont called on people to pitch in and support CT Foodshare.

“I need more of you going to Foodshare and volunteering; I need more of you going to Foodshare and donating,” Gov. Lamont said.

The license plate is the latest in ϳԹ’s campaign to market its famed pizza across the U.S. The state also started a “playful food fight” earlier this month with billboards across New York City that ridiculed New York pizza.

The license plate is available at .

Conrad Lewis is a News Intern with ϳԹ and a senior at Wesleyan University. Conrad is pursuing a major in English with minors in Film and Chinese.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from ϳԹ, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de ϳԹ, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that ϳԹ relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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ϳԹ’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.