Fight Hunger, Stock the Trailer, presented by Farm Credit Mid-America and sponsored by Rural 1st, is a statewide competition that encourages Hoosiers to combat hunger by donating cans of food.

For the third summer in a row, 38 country fairs across Indiana collected food for more than 50 local banks. This year’s total was 108,593 pounds of food.

This donation set a new record, surpassing 100,000 pounds for the first time in the competition’s history.

This year, Jackson County took first place with 16,300 pounds of food, earning the effort led by the Jackson County 4-H Goat Club, a prize of $5,000. For the first year of the competition in 2022, Jackson County also won with 11,700 pounds donated and placed third last year, raising 8,500 pounds.

“We’re committed to giving back to rural communities and supporting local agriculture. This is one of the ways we’re honored to do it,” Steve Witges said, Farm Credit Mid-America’s senior vice president of agricultural lending in Indiana. “There are more than 700,000 people in Indiana facing food insecurity. It’s inspiring to see the youth across our state discover new and innovative ways to increase donations for their local food banks.”

The Stock the Trailer efforts in Jackson County are lead by the goat club, which includes club leaders Jason Wynn, Jessica Rieckers and Lenora Mathena. Mathena played a big role in getting the New Hope Food Pantry in Freetown on board, which helped immensely. Through the pantry, they were able to disperse their donations throughout Jackson County.

The Rev. Floyd Fisher with the pantry reported New Hope served 400 households and 1,000 individuals since opening in June. Overall, Fisher reported that thanks to the donations, they were able to impact more than 1,200 households and 3,000 individuals countywide.

“I hope to work together again,” Mathena said.

There were many people who made this possible, including the club, volunteers, families of the club, 4H members and those in the community that dedicated their time to Fight Hunger, Stock the Trailer.

“We have an amazing club,” she said.

The goat club came to the realization that just having the trailer sitting at the fairgrounds wasn’t good at encouraging donations, because fair attendees usually weren’t carrying cans with them.

Mathena attributed a lot of their success to new strategies utilized to better raise the food. They had fair competitions that awarded those who brought the most cans, such as the Battle of the Barns and the goat milking competition.

Various first responders participated in the goat milking competition and invited the community to donate canned goods in their name. The Jackson County Sheriff Department won, donating the cans they received and even more after their win.

“It gave the department […] the drive to win,” Mathena said.

Another part of their plan was the Canstruction efforts, which had teams build structures out of cans that they displayed at the fair to then donate to the cause. Some of the organizations that made structures include Schneck, Edward Jones and 4H.

Without these new fundraising methods, Mathena said they wouldn’t have been able to hit the record numbers that they did.

Like previous years, Mathena said their prize money is expected to be given back, donating part of their earnings back into food pantries and similar fundraising opportunities.