Maria Notaro is the owner of the famous La Guli Pastry in the Astoria neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. La Guli Pastry was started by her grandfather, an Italian immigrant into New York, in 1937 and remains family-run today. Maria herself spent some of her childhood in Italy.

In 2015 she made some special "Pope Francis Cookies" for Pope Francis' visit to New York City that year. These cookies were made as sort of a novelty. The cookies have a color photo image of Pope Francis on them.

However, when Maria heard the news reports about Pope Francis' inspiring visit to the Montorio Prison in Verona this past May 2024, she decided that she once again would make "Pope Francis Cookies", but this time for a specific reason. Pope Francis spent the afternoon at the Montorio Prison and addressed the prison population, telling them that incarcerated people should always have hope and dignity. His message to the inmates was compelling and covered in the media.

The famous Rikers Island Prison facility is very close to Astoria. Maria wanted to make 100 of the special cookies and donate them to the Catholic chaplains at the prison to be distributed among the inmates so that Pope Francis'  same message of compassion and hope for the incarcerated could be extended to the inmates at the nearby Rikers Island prison. A Catholic chaplain at the prison facility was contacted, and he put in a request for approval with the Department of Corrections. The Department of Corrections approved the bringing of the "Pope Francis Cookies" into the prison, and the chaplain, Father Zach Presutti, also received permission for Maria to attend the weekday afternoon mass after which the cookies were distributed.

The mass was held in one of the facilities on Rikers Island on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 14th, 2024. After the mass, it was explained to the inmates in attendance that these special "Pope Francis Cookies" would be distributed to them, and he reason why: to extend the same message of hope and dignity that Pope Francis expressed in his recent visit to the Montorio Prison in Verona, Italy.

The inmates were very touched by the gift of the special cookies, and it was clear that the message resonated. Most of them lined up to shake Maria Notaro's hand and thank her. A couple of the inmates said that the cookies with the color photo image of Pope Francis looked too nice that they did not want to eat them out of respect to Pope Francis!

The distribution of the "Pope Francis Cookies" to the inmates at the Rikers Island prison was such as success that the Catholic chaplains at the prison are talking to Maria Notaro about doing it again soon. La Guli Pastry, famous for its extensive line of Italian pastries that it sells at its store and ships all over North America, achieved its goal of using their culinary and baking prowess to bring Pope Francis' message of compassion to the incarcerated at Rikers Island.