Board Member Spotlight: Tom Checkosky. Co-Owner of Pepicelli’s Pizza Ashland

Board member since: January 2012

Tom and Lisa Checkosky

“I don’t believe in coincidences.” Tom Checkosky will be the first person to tell you that he’s here (meaning Ashland) “by the grace of whatever it is you want to call God.”  Checkosky used to be operational partner for 7 Domino’s Pizza restaurants in Western Pennsylvania. He started out as driver, became manager, worked his way up the ladder, and then left.

Before the recession hit, he was a regional manager of Best Buy for three days until the economy made them cancel plans for 10 new stores.

Then, after almost two years out of the food sector, he went into a local Pizza Pan restaurant to pick up an order and then proceeded to reconfigure the entire kitchen for the owners who seemed to be having “organizational issues.”  This lit the fire within Tom to get back into the pizza business.

Pepi seriously enjoys summer!

After an exhaustive search, Tom stumbled onto a pizza place for sale in Ashland, Virginia.  The landlord gave him a great deal on rent and even paid to move his store when Smokey Pig Catering left the space next to Ashland Ace Hardware. Other local residents wowed Tom with kindness, dinner, and good advice.  "I'm from up north.  I'm not used to people being nice to me without there being some kind of ulterior motive. I was sold."

And so Pepicelli’s Pizza of Ashland was established.  This was in 2007 and they are about to celebrate their 5th year in business.

Tom with Jimmy and Ani

Tom brought down his wife, Lisa, and two kids, Jimmy and Ani and they've been here ever since (EVERYONE helps at the store when necessary).

"Something always seems to happen every couple of years or so to make us move or whatever.  We've been in Ashland five years and it hasn't happened yet.  I'm convinced that we're supposed to be here."

The Checkoskys (and Pepicelli's Pizza) are active throughout the Ashland community via MAP, the Ashland Street Parties, and several other activities.

Through a strange series of “non-coincidences,” the Checkoskys became aware of CJ’sThumbs Up Foundation and were touched by the Reynolds’ story.  Tom was so moved that he decided to do everything he could to help make CJSTUF successful and even quit smoking as a result of his involvement with the Foundation.

Pepicelli’s Pizza donates meals to The Lunch Bunch (A joint effort between CJSTUF and Conner's Heroes Foundation to feed the families on the 7^th floor of Children’s Hospital of Richmond) and was the Business Of The Month in May of 2011.  They will be the BOTM again in September, donating a portion of the month’s sales to CJSTUF.  On Monday, September 24th, CJSTUF co-founder Roger Reynolds will be delivering pizzas to Pepicelli's customers who add a small donation to their order.

Tom has dived into his CJSTUF participation with both feet and has become one of our most enthusiastic supporters.

Which is why we wanted to know the answers to:

4 and 1/2 Questions!!!

1) How often do you eat pizza made by another pizza place?

Answer: “Only on vacation and only mom and pop places.  Leonardo’s Pizza in the Outer Banks is a particular favorite as well as Causeway Pizza in Garden City Beach, NC.

2) Can you describe an atom? (I stole this from a website on interview questions)

Answer: “He’s the husband of Eve.”

(smart aleck)

3) How much taller than you is your wife, Lisa?

Answer: “5 inches.”

4) What animal, that you don't currently have, do you want most of all right now?

Answer: “I want either a big bird like an African Grey or a Cockatoo or a big dog (even though I already have two of each).”

and

1/2)  Don't you just love it when...

”employees don’t show up for work?”

Answer: “Yes I do!!!”  (There may have been a touch of sarcasm in his voice)

Visit www.pepicellis.com for information about Pepicelli's Pizza of Asland.

Mood Swings and The Double Marathon Challenge

Roger here,

Our trip to Colorado was really wonderful and I can't tell you how great it was to see my beautiful niece, Cerisa, walking down the aisle all grownup and stuff. She's a married woman now. Congrats C-Weed! It was an honor to sing at your wedding.

There were some very bittersweet parts, though for obvious reasons. CJ should have been there.

Coming back to Virginia was actually kind of tough on me for some reason and I'm still not completely over it. I've had quite a few "moments" the past few days and it's been harder than usual to think about Charlotte and what she had to go through. Tuesday was the worst day I've had in a long while. It all started when I was looking for a template of the CJSTUF letterhead and came across the letter I wrote to Disney. It was all downhill from there. I was loosing it at the drop of a hat and really feeling a distinct lack of self control. I had to sit in my car in front of Romp n' Roll for a few minutes and let it all out of my system before going in (probably feeling a little sorry for myself, I must confess).

The strange thing is, the moment I walked into Romp n' Roll, I started feeling better. Rachel was teaching my Babies! class because I had to come in late and it was so nice to see everyone laughing and playing. All the positive energy really bolstered me.

Another thing that doesn't help is that it popped into my head how we used to gauge Charlotte's pain level. The scale of 1-10 and the happy-to-sad face graph really didn't work for her but she would respond pretty accurately when we asked her if her pain level was "a little" (thumb and forefinger apart), "a lot" (hands spread several inches apart), or "alotalot" (hands spread wide apart). I so hate the fact that we had to use that system. Any system at all for that matter.

I've had a few more ups and downs since then but nothing like Tuesday. I'm sure it's just my every six month meltdown that comes about once a month or so now. I'm sure getting back into running will help that.

Hey I think I smell a segue!

Some of you may have heard about my "Double Marathon Challenge" (or "Double Marathon Madness" as Rachel calls it) where I will be running the Chicago Marathon in October and then the Richmond Marathon in November all to raise funds for CJSTUF. Well, training begins on Saturday! How would YOU like to be involved?

We'll need TEAM CJ members for spirit groups along the routes of both marathons and if anyone else wants to run in any of the races (there's also the McDonalds 1/2 Marathon, HCAVA 8K, and a Kids Fun Run in Richmond), let us know. Anyone raising $1,000 or more will get registration fees reimbursed!

I'm tweeking the pledge form to include a few extra choices. (More on that later but think "VT vs UM!")

It's a three day a week program that worked very well for me a couple of Richmond Marathons ago. Anyone is invited to come running with me. I will be running every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday morning bright and early Starting at 7am. Short runs to start off adding mileage as time goes by.

If anyone isn't part of an official training team, feel free to come out and mosey a while with me. I might be going slow but at least I'll be going.

I would love for some Richmonders to come with us up to Chicago and/or Chicagoans to come down to Richmond for the respective races. It'll be a heck of a party in both cities!

Did I mention my goal is $10,000? I really have no fear that we won't reach it.

Here's a great idea that I'm shamelessly stealing: PLEDGEWARS! I think most of you know that Rachel and I are both graduates of the University of Miami and when I'm not bleeding orange and blue for the Denver Broncos or green and yellow for the Packers, I'm mixing them and bleeding orange and green for the "U." For some strange reason, I have run into a certain amount of resistance from people in this part of the country; especially from those turkeys in Blacksburg. Well, to be fair, I want to give all you Virginia Tech fans the chance to show me who's boss, I'm throwing down the gauntlet. If VT fans raise more money than UM fans then during the Richmond Marathon, I will wear either a turkey outfit or neck-to-toe, including socks and underwear, Virginia Tech garb (I shudder at the thought!). The hat will be a pink or purple Charlotte hat no matter which side wins.

C'mon Canes! You must save me from this fate. We will be keeping a running tally going and we'll have to see what colors I wear on November 13th! Stay tuned.

Here's a GREAT memory we have of Charlotte: When we would say, "We've got some Canes over here," we taught Charlotte to say "Whoosh! Whoosh!" If that's not inspiration for you, I don't know what is.

Last but not least, Coco's Chocolate Dream Chocolatiers, the company letting us use "Chocolate Makes Everything Better," has begun making butterfly chocolates! I don't think I ever told her about the butterfly connection. Please go to her website and thank them or just say hi from a CJ fan. If anyone wants to do a "Chocolate Stand" as a FUN-raiser, let me know and we'll get it set up.

Thanks for letting me rant. I'll keep searching.