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 our neighbors facing food insecurity – thanks to an innovative campaign piloted in our region by the Community Foundation for Perry County (CFPC).
In 2021, CFPC debuted its Fill the Freezer campaign, inviting buyers at the Perry 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 its first year, more than 5,000 pounds of pork were donated. In 2022, that number rose to 7,500 pounds. And, in 2023, the campaign, with corporate sponsorship from Columbia Gas and the NiSource Charitable Foundation, saw individuals and businesses donate 71 pigs and CFPC purchase an additional 49 hogs – resulting in approximately 13,215 pounds of sausage that was expected to stock the county’s food pantries for an entire year.
In partnership with the Perry 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.
Fill the Freezer’s impact has spread beyond Perry County to four other Foundation for Appalachian Ohio geographic affiliate foundation partners. In 2022, the Hocking County Community Fund debuted its Fill the Freezer campaign. The success in Perry and Hocking counties inspired the Gallia Community Foundation to launch its Fill the Freezer campaign and the Vinton County Community Fund to help expand a similar program called “Fair to Family” in 2023. 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.