Champion pizza maker does his work at home, for his Mount Prospect neighbors

Gino Rago makes pizza for a living. And he does it competitively.

But now the owner of Panino's Pizzeria's in Park Ridge, Evanston and Chicago is at home, like so many people.

Yet Rago can still make his pizzas. He has a brick oven in his garage.

So on Good Friday, he put his oven and award-winning skills to work. He made pizzas for his neighbors.

“Considering what's going on in America, I wanted to give something back to the community,” he said.

He started the day making a dozen margarita pizzas and delivered them, or his neighbors picked them up. He wore a mask and gloves at all times.

Rago has won national and international pizza contests. He says he's been called the World Champion Pizza Maker eight times. His pizzas “are made with handmade dough, secret recipe of spices, sauces, and the freshest ingredients and Italian cheeses,” he says in an email.

“This is a way for me to commemorate the many difficulties and hardships that are occurring right now for my family and friends back in my home country of Italy,” he wrote. “And also for my daughter who has be working nonstop at the nearby Northwest Community Hospital helping with the many patients as a nurse.”