STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Rico’s Pizza has joined the growing list of Wood River Valley restaurants coming up with unique ways to serve during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Italian restaurant is teaming up with The Hunger Coalition to feed those who are struggling to afford food, given the number of businesses being shuttered to stop the spread of the virus.

The program—“Rico’s Provide a Pie”—will donate a free small pizza to The Huner Coalition for every large-size pizza purchased by the community. The pizzas will be distributed every Thursday to The hunger coalition to hand out at their food pick-up location from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of the Big wood in Ketchum.

“Rico’s has been a supporter of many non-profit organizations since it opened in 1982 and we are thankful to him and his staff during these hard times,” said Jeanne Liston, executive director of the Hunger Coalition. “In addition to supplying low-income people with fresh vegetables and meals, the idea of a hot pizza is a welcomed addition.”

Rico Albright is offering pick up service from 5 to 8 p.m. daily during the lockdown. The menu includes pizza, pasta, salads, desserts, wine and beer. Call 208-726-7426 for more information.

• Rico’s announcement follows that of Perry’s Restaurant, which is taking donations for First Responder gift cards that paramedics and others can redeem for salmon and chicken dinners (208-726-7703).
• In addition, people can support their favorite restaurants during the lockdown with the Sun Valley Restaurant Association “Gift Card, Give Back” program.

Simply buy a gift card for $50, $75, $100 or $200 and redeem them when the restaurant reopens.

Tom Nickel of the Sawtooth Club says people can even buy gift cars for overworked health-care workers, delivery workers and all the other people who are toiling extra hard to keep things going during the pandemic.

“In over 40 years of our history in the valley, going all the way back to Creekside, I have never seen such challenging times for us and our staff,” Nickel added. “With the help of these purchases, we’ll be able to provide much needed financial assistance right now to our wonderful employees.”

Clients can call restaurants to place their order. The order can be mailed to the purchaser or patrons may collect them with their take-out orders.

“Restaurants have always been there for the community and many clients ask me how they can be there for us today,” said Roger Roland of Sushi on Second and The Cellar Pub. “As it is impossible to make sustainable income from take-out orders alone, buying a gift care now helps bridge our finances.”

Bob Dunn, of the Grill at Knob Hill, said he can’t wait until clients redeem their gift cards: “We will know that the crisis has passed and we can get back to normal. We miss our friends and community at this time.”

Participating restaurants are Grill at Knob Hill (grillatknobhill.com, 726-8004); Sawtooth Club (sawtoothclub.com, 726-5233); Michel’s Christiania (michelschristiania.com, 726-3388); Sushi on Second (sushionsecond.com, 726-5181); Mason Family Restaurants (masonfamilyrestaurants.com, 928-6280); The Pioneer (pioneersaloon.com, 726-3139); Cristina’s (cristinasofsunvalley.com, 726-4499); Warfield Distillery & Brewery (drinkwarfield.com, 726-2739), Glow Live Food Café (glowlivefood.com, 725-0314) and Rasberrys (rasberrys.net, 726-0606).