Local pizza restaurant Avalanche Pizza distributed 600 pounds of food around Athens County Feb. 1 to help people experiencing food insecurity.
Avalanche Pizza donated 206 11-course Meal Bags to be distributed at the former Chauncey Elementary School and the Federal Valley Resource Center in Stewart, Ohio.
John Gutekanst, who owns Avalanche Pizza, said the meal bags will feed two people for one day.
The bags contained a one-pound pizza slice; one-pound cheese bread with dipping sauce; a mega sandwich containing four meats plus cheese, lettuce and pickles; three bean salad; potato salad; fruit salad; macaroni salad; peanut butter crackers; two bags of sun chips; mayonnaise; mustard; a Nutri-Grain bar; chocolate cookies; and chocolate truffles.
“Because of the demand, we ran out of food even before 11 in Chauncey and had to get even more food from the Stewart location. This food lasted only 10 minutes,” Gutekanst wrote in an email.
JoAnna Duquette, vice president of the Federal Valley Resource Center, expressed appreciation for the initiative Avalanche Pizza took to make the event happen.
“There was barely anything that we needed to do on our end except for provide the space,” Duquette said. “They provided the manpower and so that part was unique, because usually if we're going to provide food, there's a fair amount of work on our end. So the fact that they were so willing to provide the food and the time and the resources, meaning the people, that was just wonderful.”
On average, Athens County struggles more with food insecurity than the rest of Appalachian Ohio.
A 2023 report from the Appalachian Regional Commission found from 2016-2020, 15% of people living in Appalachian Ohio experienced food insecurity.
A 2022 report from Feeding America found the food insecurity rate in Athens County to be 18.3%, with a total food insecure population of 11,230 people.
Additionally, Feeding America also reported 18.3% of people in Athens County experience food insecurity, while the Appalachian Regional Commission’s report found that for Appalachian Ohio overall, 19.7% of children experience food insecurity.
The Feb. 1 donation is part of a series of donations Avalanche Pizza has consistently made over a 10-year period motivated by the statistical significance of food insecurity in Athens County.
“During Covid, we realized that none of the usual food safety net organizations were operating. So, we contacted numerous privately run food banks and began making food for them, delivering them to multiple places at once,” Gutekanst wrote. “Between 2020 and 2021, we sourced, cooked and delivered 5,300 meals to this counties poor. That’s 10,696 pounds of food.”
Although Athens County faces significant struggles with food insecurity, there are also a significant number of businesses, organizations and people working to make things better.
Professor Stephen Scanlan, who teaches sociology courses related to poverty, food justice and social change, notes there are significant systemic and infrastructural factors built into the food system contributing to food insecurity in Appalachia.
“Systemically, the food system doesn't necessarily reach the people it needs to reach in an isolated region, Appalachia especially, and so we have to make up for that fact,” Scanlan said.
Scanlan believes structural changes must take place to efficiently fight food insecurity.
“We need to change systems so that people have access to food, not that we're just relying on the goodness of others or government policy and things,” Scanlan says.
Athens is rich in organizations supporting food-insecure people in the county. Community Food Initiatives, the Veggie Van, Chesterhill Produce Auction, Rural Action, Live Healthy Appalachia, Food Not Bombs, the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks and the OHIO Student Farm are all organizations found in Athens that in addition to local businesses, are working to keep hunger at bay in Athens County.
