The Appalachian Nutrition Network is a non-profit organization born out of the need to feed at-risk children in the Appalachian counties in both Ohio and West Virginia. By organizing, sponsoring, and administering USDA food and nutrition programs such as the Summer Food Service Program, the After School At-Risk program, the Youth Development Program, and the Family Child Care program, ANN is committed to combating hunger and promoting healthy life-styles and good nutrition by providing healthy food, nutrition education, and healthy activities for as many children living at or below the poverty level in Appalachia.
Jim Couts was born in poverty. The youngest of five children, his family lived on a small farm growing most of their food living in a house with no electricity or running water. Eventually Jim graduated from Capital University and in 1969 from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. He always had a passion for developing community programs and so after serving a parish near Pittsburgh for three years, Jim returned to Columbus as Director of Community Outreach for Lutheran Social Services. Among his many accomplishments, he was founder of St. Mark’s Community Health Center and with Fran Ryan of Columbus, co-founder of Operation Feed. During those years he became familiar with every aspect of managing non-profit organizations.
In 1984 Jim returned to his roots in Ohio’s Appalachia. After serving parishes in Zanesville and McConnelsville, he moved to Marietta on the Ohio River. It was here Jim fell in love with school nutrition programs. It started with a simple request from a local art teacher, Jeff Schenkel. Jeff asked Jim if it was possible to provide some food for children in his art class. “These kids are talented but they’re hungry,” Jeff said. Jim described that experience in this way, “We started that day providing meals. I could not believe the results. Almost immediately those children improved both with their work and with their behavior. That was the day I knew how I wanted to spend my time.”
In 1997 Jim was given the opportunity to lead an effort in Marietta to assist the Marietta City School’s efforts to reinstate a school nutrition program. At that time children were being fed from vending machines – pop and potato chips, not sandwiches. That effort proved successful; today Marietta City Schools have full kitchens in every building. The next step was to develop Summer Food Service Programs. The 29 Appalachian Counties of Ohio ranked dead last in the nation in the number of low-income children receiving summer meals. For three years Jim provided summer meals through the Ohio Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Programs every day jotting down ideas to overcome the barriers to providing summer meals unique to Appalachia. At the end of those three years he presented those ideas in the form of a proposal to the Ohio Department of Education. ODE’s School Nutrition Division offered assistance and in 2004 The Appalachian Nutrition Network was born.
In 2004 A.N.N. began with two sites and budget of $1500.00. Three years later A.N.N. served over 180,000 meals in Ohio and West Virginia covering 16,000 square miles. A.N.N. continues to grow; it is now one of the few non-profit agencies in the United States sponsoring every USDA Child Nutrition Program allowable. “I am so blessed,” Jim says, “to be part of America at its best.”
