Belfast entrepreneur running free pizza classes in honour of late son

A Belfast entrepreneur is offering free pizza making classes to children with additional needs, in honour of his late son.

Ciaran Kelly's son Zack passed away just eight hours after he was born.

Ciaran, who owns Pizza Crew says he wanted to help children like his son.

He tells us why he decided to give something back:

“I’ve been doing the pizza-making classes for 6 years now and I’m so proud to say that over 3000 kids with additional needs have had the opportunity to be a pizza maker.

“Around nine years ago, my wife and I found out that we were having our second child. We discovered during a scan that when our son arrived, he would live for only minutes. As a family, we decided that those minutes would be packed full of our love.

“We named him Zak and when that wee man was born he fought so hard to stay with us and in the end, we had him for 8 hours. When I tell you we made the most of that time, I really mean it.

“Zak met his big sister, Zara; his grandparents and we told him about all the love we had for him – he knew he was special before he died. It’s still something we find very hard to talk about – you never really get over losing a child.”

Ciaran says he would like schools in the Lisburn area to get in touch.

“The main reason I wanted to do the free pizza making classes is that if our son had lived, he would have been at the amazing special and specialist provision schools that work tirelessly to give children the best life possible.

“When the kids arrive at the classes, I let them know that they are part of the Pizza Crew and the kitchen is theirs for the day. They love it, they run riot, throw flour at one another - the giggles and the laughter are just so life affirming. And I imagine my wee Zak and what might have been and for a while, I don’t miss him so much. We went on to have another child, her name is Zoe Alana Kelly, she’s 6 now – Zak’s initials – so he’s always on our minds.”