By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Mike Monichetti was stunned when Hank Sauce, the Sea Isle City-based hot sauce maker, presented him with a donation last year for his annual fundraiser for autism awareness.
“I didn’t know how much they had raised until they showed up with a big check. When I saw it, I didn’t believe it,” Monichetti, the owner of Mike’s Seafood & Dock Restaurant in Sea Isle, recalled of the $10,000 donation.
This year, the three former college buddies who own Hank Sauce are planning to make another donation to Monichetti’s annual fundraiser, the Mike’s Seafood Polar Bear Run-Walk for Autism.
Hank Sauce has teamed up with the Philadelphia-based Dietz & Watson meats and cheese producer to sell limited-edition T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts to raise money for autism awareness.
“For us, it seems like a tradition we wanted to keep going,” said Matt Pittaluga, who owns Hank Sauce with business partners Hank Ruxton and Josh Jaspan.
Hank Sauce has been supporting the Polar Bear Run-Walk for Autism since 2017. But last year the company branched out to begin selling its own limited-edition T-shirts and hoodies branded with its logo to raise more money. Sea Isle Ice Co. was Hank Sauce’s partner in 2021 for the T-shirt and hoodies sales.
“Last year, they sold out so fast. It was wild. It was something that we really didn’t expect,” Pittaluga said of the $10,000 in sales.
The Hank Sauce and Dietz & Watson-branded T-shirts and hoodies this year can be purchased online at hanksauce.com by clicking on the “Apparel” tab. Short-sleeve T-shirts are $25, long sleeves are $35 and hoodies are $45.
They may also be purchased in person during Sea Isle’s Presidents Day Weekend Festival Feb. 18-20. Locations will include the Hank Sauce restaurant at 8605 Landis Ave. and at the United Methodist Church parking lot at 4102 Central Ave.
A large tent will be set up on the church parking lot to serve as the venue for a baggo tournament 1 p.m. Sunday hosted by the Oar House Pub to benefit the United Methodist Church.
The Presidents Day Weekend Festival replaces what was formerly known as Polar Bear Plunge Weekend in Sea Isle. Polar Bear Plunge Weekend was highlighted by a madcap chilly dip in the ocean by thousands of people on the Saturday of Presidents Day weekend. Mike’s Seafood Polar Bear Run-Walk for Autism would follow on the Sunday of the holiday weekend.
The pandemic forced the cancellation of the Polar Bear Plunge last year. Monichetti was able to continue the run-walk for autism during the pandemic by making it a virtual event in 2021. It is being held online again this year at polarbearrunwalkforautism.com.
A new policy enacted by Sea Isle City has banned privately run events from being held on local streets, municipal parking lots and public property. The city said major events such as the Polar Bear Plunge put too much strain on its police and Public Works departments and also exposed Sea Isle to potential liability lawsuits if someone were hurt or killed. As a result, the Polar Bear Plunge has been scrubbed this year.
Pittaluga said the owners of Hank Sauce felt badly that the Polar Bear Run-Walk for Autism couldn’t be held in its traditional format, where thousands of participants gather on Sea Isle’s oceanfront Promenade.
In the past, Hank Sauce donated about $2,000 annually to the autism fundraiser. But with the fundraiser going virtual in 2021 and 2022, the owners of Hank Sauce felt they needed to do more to help support the event, so they decided to sell the limited-edition T-shirts and hoodies, Pittaluga said.
“It felt like the right thing to do this year – for us to keep the effort going,” he said.
There are strong ties between Hank Sauce and Mike’s Seafood. Pittaluga noted that Mike’s Seafood helped out Hank Sauce when it was still a fledgling company after the hot sauce brand was launched in 2011.
“He was one of our first accounts. He was one of the first businesses that took our sauce,” he said of Monichetti.
Monichetti, in turn, is grateful that Hank Sauce is a generous donor to the run-walk for autism.
“It’s a great feeling to know that you have the support of other businesses in town, especially one that is as well-known and as successful as Hank Sauce,” he said.
There are also close ties between the Monichetti and Pittaluga families. Monichetti said Matt Pittaluga’s mother, Kathy Brown Pittaluga, was his very first volunteer for the Mike’s Seafood Polar Bear Run-Walk for Autism.
“Her big heart has been passed down to her son and everyone else at Hank Sauce,” he said of the fundraising efforts of owners Matt Pittaluga, Hank Ruxton and Josh Jaspan.
