Fighting hunger in Gallia County – one pig at a time

Livestock sales are a pinnacle moment at county fairs, bringing community together to support and celebrate local 4-H youth. In Gallia County, this summer ritual also brings community together to support neighbors facing food insecurity.

In 2023, GCF debuted its Fill the Freezer campaign, inviting buyers at the Gallia County Fair’s Junior Livestock Sale to donate their hog purchases to fill the freezers of the county’s food pantries and fight hunger – one pig at a time.

In partnership with the Gallia County Fair board, local 4-H members, the Southeast Ohio Foodbank, local food pantries and meat processors, and the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, Fill the Freezer brings together local residents and businesses who not only donate their hog purchases but also donate money to cover meat processing costs.

In its first two years, GCF’s Fill the Freezer netted 25 donated hogs each year, resulting in more than 6,000 pounds of sausage to feed Gallia County families. In 2025, 27 hogs were donated, generating 4,933 pounds of sausage. Each year, corporate sponsorship from Columbia Gas and the NiSource Charitable Foundation has helped cover the cost of meat processing.

Fill the Freezer was piloted in the region by the Community Foundation for Perry County in 2021 and has since expanded to six other Appalachian Ohio counties served by FAO affiliate foundation partners. In 2022, the Hocking County Community Fund launched its Fill the Freezer campaign, followed in 2023 by the Gallia Community Foundation and the Vinton County Community Fund, which helped expand a similar program called “Fair to Family.” The Harrison County Community Foundation started its Fill the Freezer campaign in 2024. In summer 2025, the Lawrence County Community Foundation and the Morgan Community Fund expanded the campaign to their counties.

In 2025 alone, more than 33,000 pounds of locally raised protein were donated through these programs.

Across our region, communities are putting food on the tables of families in need, supporting those working on the front lines of food insecurity and demonstrating the difference we can all make when we work together.