Livestock sales are a pinnacle moment at county fairs, bringing community together to support and celebrate local 4-H youth. In Appalachian Ohio, this summer ritual is increasingly bringing community together to also support neighbors facing food insecurity – thanks to an innovative campaign spearheaded by the Gallia Community Foundation and other Foundation for Appalachian Ohio affiliate foundation partners.
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, 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. GCF’s inaugural Fill the Freezer, with corporate sponsorship from Columbia Gas and the NiSource Charitable Foundation, netted 25 donated hogs.
Fill the Freezer was piloted in the region by the Community Foundation for Perry County in 2021 and has since expanded to four 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.
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.