Athens County Food Pantry

What Athens County Food Pantry does

The Athens County Food Pantry is an all-volunteer pantry serving residents of Athens County, Ohio. Frank Hare and a group of local pastors started it in 1980. Eligible households can come once a month for a three-day emergency or supplemental supply of food: shelf-stable goods plus fresh produce, bread, eggs and frozen protein when available. The pantry is on State Route 13 in Millfield and is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The pantry got national attention in December 2019. In his Heisman Trophy speech, Athens native Joe Burrow talked about hunger in his hometown, and a Facebook fundraiser that followed brought in roughly $650,000 within weeks. Instead of spending it all at once, the pantry put $350,000 into a permanent Joe Burrow Hunger Relief Fund at the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio. The foundation matched it dollar for dollar, and by early 2022 the fund had passed $1.6 million. It is designed to send the pantry more than $50,000 a year.

The endowment pays out every year, and the pantry still relies on ongoing community gifts to run. It is small and volunteer-run, and its 2024 filing shows about $183,000 in expenses. It accepts card gifts through PayPal, bank transfers, checks and donations of food.

Key facts

• Founded in 1980 by Frank Hare and other local pastors; all-volunteer (pantry website)
• About $650,600 raised for the pantry by Jan. 31, 2020, after Joe Burrow's 2019 Heisman speech (Foundation for Appalachian Ohio)
• $350,000 of those gifts, matched 1:1 by the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, seeded a permanent endowment that grew past $1.6 million by Feb. 2022 and is designed to provide more than $50,000 a year to the pantry (FAO)
• FY2024: $311,825 in revenue (90% contributions) and $182,720 in expenses (ProPublica)

Before you give

• Gives online by card (PayPal, one-time or recurring) or ACH; checks go to 9 N. College St., Athens, OH 45701.
• Gifts from self-directed funds and estates are accepted; contact the treasurer.
• To give to the permanent endowment instead, use the Joe Burrow Hunger Relief Fund at the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio.
• The pantry's website says it is a Gold GuideStar (Candid) participant (not independently checked).