Lawrence County Community Foundation event aims to fight hunger – one pound at a time
IRONTON, Ohio – The Lawrence County Community Foundation (LCCF) is bringing local residents, businesses and organizations together to help community members facing food insecurity.
LCCF’s Fill the Freezer campaign returns to the Lawrence County Fair. Buyers at the July 18 livestock sale are invited to donate their market lamb, hog, beef and turkey purchases to fill the freezers of the county’s food pantries and fight hunger – one pound at a time.
LCCF debuted its Fill the Freezer campaign at the 2025 Lawrence County Fair. A total of 37 animals were donated, generating over 4,300 pounds of locally raised protein to feed Lawrence County residents.
The campaign is held in partnership with the Lawrence County Fair Board, local 4-H and FFA members, meat processors and Facing Hunger Foodbank, which will help distribute the donated meat to food pantries and mobile units serving Lawrence County. Thanks to donors to its endowment fund, LCCF is covering the meat processing costs.
“We are grateful to everyone involved in Fill the Freezer – all of whom play a crucial role in this effort,” said Terri Taylor, chair of LCCF’s Fill the Freezer committee. “From the 4-H and FFA youth who raise the animals to the buyers who invest in their success and the volunteers who staff our local pantries, each act of hard work and generosity builds on the last, creating benefits that impact our entire community.”
The locally raised meat donated through Fill the Freezer will not only help individuals and families in Lawrence County, where more than 18 percent of the population experiences food insecurity, but also the food pantries striving to fill that need. Of the 445,000 pounds of food Facing Hunger Foodbank distributed in Lawrence County in 2023, only 38,000 pounds – less than 10 percent – were protein.
LCCF is one of a growing number of Foundation for Appalachian Ohio affiliate foundation partners spearheading or supporting Fill the Freezer and similar campaigns. In 2025 alone, more than 33,000 pounds of fresh, local protein – one of the most expensive staples for both families stretched thin and the food pantries that serve them – were donated through these programs. The campaign is expanding to several additional counties this year.