As you head to the Jackson County Fair this week, you have an opportunity to help others in the community.
For the second year in a row, the Jackson County 4-H Goat Club is spearheading the fair’s involvement in the Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer campaign.
The competition, presented by Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st, encourages 4-H student leaders to promote the contest collecting nonperishable food, hygiene products and cleaning supplies during their county fairs.
Main Trailer Sales LLC again donated use of a livestock trailer for the goat club to park near the Farm Bureau Building during the fair, which runs through Saturday. People can bring their donations to the trailer. The items will be weighed, and that total will be turned in to the competition organizers.
The county that collects the most will receive $5,000, up from $3,000 last year. Second place will receive $3,000, while third will get $2,000. Also, a $500 participation check will be awarded to any county that collects 1,000 pounds of food or more, and $250 will go to those collecting 999 pounds or less.
Jason Wynn, one of the leaders of the Jackson County 4-H Goat Club, said again this year, all items collected at the fair will be distributed to the 4-H Little Food Pantries around the county. Any remaining items will be placed in the Shed for You community buildings in Brownstown and Freetown and local food pantries.
“If you’re fortunate enough yourself and want to help out others in the community, there’s a need out there that I think most people don’t realize, and this is just one way that they can give back and help others within the community,” Wynn said.
He said the goat club is happy to lead the charge for this effort and hopes to win the contest again this year.
“The overall goal is to help the community out, but if (winning) is a byproduct or a bonus of doing that, then hopefully, we can repeat,” Wynn said.
To help collect even more items this year, Canstruction has been added to the mix.
Molly Marshall, health and human sciences educator for Purdue Extension Jackson County, said vendors at the fair were encouraged to do a Canstruction build. There wound up being two.
One, shaped like a corncob, was created by Purdue Extension Jackson County and is in the 4-H Building. The other, shaped like an American flag, was built by Edward Jones employees in the county and is in Exhibit Building 3.
“Booths can set up a Canstruction structure with canned items, which will all be donated at the end of the fair to Jackson County pantries,” Marshall said.
Wynn also said 4-H Junior Leaders donated $500 for the goat club to buy canned goods to add to the collection.
In its inaugural year, Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer brought in 37,297 pounds of food, and 16 county fairs participated.
Jackson County led the way with 11,700 pounds of food, followed by Madison County with 7,080 pounds (earning $2,000) and Jennings County with 5,030 (earning $1,000). Each of the participating counties also received $500.
Wynn said the $3,500 the goat club received last year was put toward installing fans at the goat barn at the fairgrounds, buying club T-shirts for members and their family members to wear at the fair and buying gift cards for 10-year 4-H members. Also, a donation was made to the 4-H winners circle to buy banners and awards for fair week.
“Just little awards throughout the year that we give back,” Wynn said.
Jessica Weathers, associate financial officer for the Farm Credit Mid-America Columbus office, said along with the top-three prize money being increased, Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer was offered to more counties this year.
The number of participants grew from 16 to 37.
“We made a pretty big jump for what we had last year,” said Weathers, who is on a team of four people spearheading the statewide effort and is being assisted by Michaela Peters, an account specialist for the Columbus office.
“It has a lot to do with the support that we’ve gotten from our team members in the regions across the state,” she said. “Their support in the project and wanting to support their communities is really the only reason that we’ve been able to do this project in this many counties. Last year, since it was our first year, we were pretty selective on where we were going to roll out the project, and obviously, the response has just been outstanding.”
She expects the results from the 2023 initiative to be announced in mid- to late August.
“It’s nice to see what kind of attention it’s starting to grab,” she said. “We are super excited to see the impact we can have on the state this year.”