The Centreville Day Business Citizen of the Year is Paisano’s Pizza (and Bella Pizza) owner and CEO, Fouad Qreitem. He was honored by the Centreville Day Planning Committee at the Oct. 11 festivities.

Qreitem was recognized for all the work he’s done over the years to benefit the lives of children and youth in need of help. Most recently, he mobilized his chain of restaurants for a week in August to raise funds to purchase an accessible van for Centreville High senior Juwaan Espinal, who’s wheelchair-bound due to cerebral palsy.

Qreitem also called on a friend, Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garçon, to help raise money. Garcon then delivered the van, with a Paisano’s Pizza sign atop it, to Espinal during halftime at a Centreville Wildcats football game in front of a cheering crowd of home-team fans.

A father, himself, Qreitem once purchased $500 worth of mistletoe during a fundraiser to help a 3-year-old Chantilly girl with cancer. And for the month of September 2013, Paisano’s held a “Let’s Take Care of Tara” campaign and donated a portion of the sales of pizzas from all its restaurants to raise funds for Tara Sankner, a Lees Corner Elementary fourth-grader who’s battling brain cancer.

Qreitem also started a college scholarship fund for graduates of Mountain View, an alternative high school in Centreville. Many of Mountain View’s students overcome difficult obstacles to earn a high-school diploma despite life circumstances that traditional students don’t have to face.

And all these things he does willingly, happy to have the opportunity to make a difference. “It’s great to be part of the community and help others,” he said. “I want Paisano’s to be known for helping people in the community.”