LANSING, WV (WOAY) -For this week’s Making a Difference Monday segment, we are taking you to the Burrito Bar at Breeze Hill where not only have they worked hard to follow the guidelines, but they have also been there to support teachers during their craziest week and students in need of a free meal.
The Burrito Bar at Breeze Hill is tucked away in Lansing on the grounds of New And Gauley River Adventures.
Their season typically starts in May and lasts until Bridge Day but like everything else, the pandemic forced some changes.
This year, they opened in June, six weeks late, but they wanted to make sure they were taking every precaution. Even though they are known for their unique outdoor dining space, owners Yarrow Levine and Ryan Walters said they did not relax when it came to the guidelines.
“Of course it’s really important outdoors,” she said. “So the assumption at least when we began was that, ‘Oh if I’m outdoors, I can go up and breathe in my friend’s face,’ but we really want to make sure the people know that we want to have a distance outdoors and invite everyone to wear a mask to their table.”
But they also used this time to give back to a community in need.
Walters first put out a post on social media that said if anyone, especially families with children, was going hungry, the Burrito Bar would gladly feed them for free.
And during the first week of a crazy school year, the Burrito Bar also offered a free burrito to all teachers.
“Just to give back to the teachers, so they had one less thing to worry about for a couple hours in a day because this has been very stressful for them,” Walters said.
“We also come from a family with teachers too, so my mom was a teacher and his sister is a teacher so it’s really important,” Levine added. “We know how vital it is to the community.”
The Burrito Bar will wrap up their season during the second weekend of October this year. During this challenging, shorter-than-usual business year for the two owners, they wanted to make it count for the community they love.
“We didn’t really know what we would do or what business we would have, but we wanted to come back to Southern West Virginia where I’m from and really try to do something to enhance and elevate the community,” Levine said. “Like you said, I didn’t know if we would just be having a restaurant and be able to offer people food or maybe just at this point we’re trying to also stand up for social justice issues and make it be known that that is important to us as well not only as West Virginians, as business owners but just global community members.”
Be sure to tune in next week for our final edition of Making a Difference segment.
