Athens Food Rescue volunteers recognized at event

Volunteers with Athens Food Rescue gathered for a celebration of achievement on April 28 at Little Fish Brewing Company, Athens. Several of them received awards for their efforts to distribute donated food to area residents who may not get enough to eat.

One of the volunteers is Adele Hanson. So far this year, working 43 shifts, she has rescued more than 1,900 pounds of food.

Herman Carson was honored for rescuing almost 6,000 pounds of food since becoming a volunteer in 2019.

Heidi Wilhelm, Kristin Distel and Janalee Stock are three of the newest members of AFR. Stock has rescued more than 1,100 pounds of food, Distel more than 500 pounds and Wilhelm 246 pounds.

Julie Finlay was singled out as “the volunteer with the largest haul.” For one of her shifts, she loaded nearly 800 pounds of food into her car for delivery.

Teresa Curtiss is one of the founders of Athens Food Rescue. Since the start of the group in 2015, she has rescued more than 71,000 pounds of food.

Other volunteers recognized for their contributions — Michael Ward, Margaret Hoff, Michael Williford, Tom Quinn, Sue Jago and Stephanie and Fred Kight.

““We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without our volunteers,” said Nanda Filkin, AFR executive director. “We hosted the gathering to show our appreciation.”

Athens Food Rescue collects food from donors and transports it to several food pantries, meal programs and other groups. This helps fight hunger while at the same time keeping surplus food from being wasted and taken to the landfill.

The nonprofit’s website is at athensfoodrescue.com . To donate, send a check to Athens Food Rescue, P.O. Box 1143, Athens, Ohio 45701.