Avery loved pizza.

Anyone who knew her or who followed her story, knew that.

She constantly ate pizza before her diagnosis and especially after her diagnosis.

We would eat pizza a couple times a week for dinner, before a radiation appointment, after a family outing, you name it.

About a month after her diagnosis, thanks to some friends in our neighborhood, who were friends with the owner of Little Caesars Pizza in Sumner, Avery had some pizzas from Little Caesars show up at our front door, delivered by the Little Caesars mascot.

A month later, the day before we went left for Avery’s Make-a-Wish trip to Orlando, Avery was invited by the owner of that Little Caesars, Sebastian, to come down and make her own pizza, which she’d make for the family for dinner. 

While down there with Avery, we talked to Sebastian and found out he and his wife went to the same college that Amanda and I went to a few years after we had graduated.  We had mutual friends as well.

We also found out that Sebastian also had opened a burger place in nearby Federal Way called “Stacks.”

Fast forward about 18 months later, and at one of our Foundation events, we had a Stacks Food Truck at our Trivia Night.

Over the course of the next few months, through various conversations, an idea came from Sebastian and his marketing director Scott: Stacks wanted us to design a burger that people would love, that would be something Avery would have liked and for a portion of each burger sold to go back to the Avery Huffman Defeat DIPG Foundation.

Amanda and I tried to think of what a good “Avery” burger would look like or taste like.  Finally, Amanda had that Eureka! moment: A Pizza Burger.

We met with Sebastian and Scott and nervously presented our idea of a Pizza Burger.

Within seconds, Sebastian and Scott had a concept of the burger.

That burger became the #AveryStrong Pizza Burger and it would include: a 4 oz. beef patty with bacon, provolone and ranch with a pizza bun, including pepperoni, mozzarella and sauce.

Stacks‘ chef, Josh, prepared two for us when we arrived to try it on March 30th, just days before the #AveryStrong Pizza Burger became the April Burger of the Month at Stacks.

And it was incredible.  We loved it.

But next, we needed to make sure Avery’s brother and sisters liked it.

So on Easter Sunday, the first day it was available, Alex, Cade and Addison tried the #AveryStrong Pizza Burger.

The verdict?  A HUGE hit. 

For the entire month of April, the #AveryStrong Pizza Burger is on the menu at Stacks, with a portion of each burger sold going back to the Foundation.

The Stacks‘ team knocked it out of the park.

Sebastian and his wife have been supporters of Avery since early in her diagnosis and have been incredible supporters of the Foundation from the get-go.

He and Scott are passionate about the community and giving back and had wanted this idea of a burger to become real for months and we got to make it happen.

So all of April, if you’re in the Federal Way/Auburn/Puget Sound area, get down to Stacks, try a kid AND parent approved #AveryStrong Pizza Burger, support a fantastic local business and a great cause!

For more on Stacks, check out their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Read more about the Avery Huffman Defeat DIPG Foundation.

#AveryStrong