Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st recently announced that the third annual Fight Hunger, Stock the Trailer event is in the works.
This initiative brings together junior fairs statewide in a friendly competition to raise donations for their local food banks.
For the third year in a row, the Jackson County 4-H Goat Club will be organizing the event at the Jackson County Fair. That event begins July 21 and ends six days later on July 27.
With more than 700,000 individuals across Indiana facing food insecurity, Fight Hunger, Stock the Trailer helps inspire and incentivize local youth to address the hunger gap, according to a news release from Farm Credit Mid-America, and is consumer lending division, Rural 1st.
In 2023, there was overwhelming participation, with 36 county fairs competing and supporting 53 food banks across Indiana. Together, these efforts resulted in a remarkable donation of 99,000 pounds of food, more than doubling the donations from 2022, the event’s inaugural year.
Jackson County won the competition in 2022 by collecting 11,700 pounds of donations during the fair. The 4-H Goat Club received $3,000. Last year, Jackson County placed third, winning $1,500 for the fair and raising 8,500 pounds of food.
“It’s always inspiring to see young, local residents develop innovative solutions to drive food donations for their community,” said Steve Witges, Farm Credit Mid-America’s senior vice president of agricultural lending in Indiana. “This initiative underscores our unwavering commitment to secure the future of rural communities and agriculture. We’re grateful for the continued support and look forward to another successful year of making a meaningful impact.”
All participating junior fairs receive a $500 prize. At the end of the fair, the total weight of all donations will be calculated. The top five winners will receive additional prize money. In past years, junior fairs used the prizes to attend statewide conferences, invest in new technologies and, in some cases, donate more non-perishable items to the food banks.
“We filled three trailers with over 15,000 pounds of food,” said Coltyn Sellers, Wabash County 4-H junior leader and past participant. “It was cool to see the reactions when we brought all that to the food banks. We were able to help a lot of families in and around Wabash County.”
Since 2022, the Fight Hunger, Stock the Trailer event in Indiana has resulted in more than 136,000 pounds of food donated, filling nearly 80 food banks. This milestone underscores the difference communities can make when united under a common purpose.
Purdue Extension Jackson County is also involved with their Canstruction efforts. For Canstruction, vendors at the fair form teams to create structures out of cans that will then be donated to Fight Hunger, Stock the Trailer.
“It’s a great opportunity to educate the community about food security,” said Molly Marshall with Purdue Extension Jackson County.
Last year was the first year of Canstruction, with two teams forming two structures. One of those groups was from Edward Jones, who made an American flag. Currently, there are six teams for this year’s fair.
“We did get a lot of people stopping [at our booth and] asking about what it was for,” said Edward Jones’s Ryan Kemp, one of the participants for the Canstruction efforts. “They were really proud that [the event] was going on at the fair.”
Kemp said that it was nice to work together in a new way, helping them stay connected to the fair and contribute to a good cause. He said that their structure encouraged fair attendees to participate in the event, dropping off canned goods.
In the coming weeks, there will be updates shared to learn how to get involved with donations.