4-H club takes fair proceeds to needy families

One cow can feed approximately 350 people. This week, the Utah State University Extension 4-H program will give enough meat to the local food bank to feed close to 60,000 people.

The 4-H Meat Donation Program is an annual effort by 4-H clubs in Davis County. This year, a group of youths and their leaders was able to secure 120,000 pounds of meat through various donations from ranchers and by donating the livestock they raised themselves to show and sell at the state and local fairs. The meat is being sorted and packed for shipping at the Utah Food Bank warehouse in Salt Lake City this weekend, all to be delivered to needy families throughout the state.

Food banks often score scads of canned goods and boxed food during a food drive, but rarely is meat a major commodity.

Kelly Maxfield, a long-time 4-H club leader in Farmington, started using his corporate connections in 2005, and donations came in from most of the northern Utah counties. Now, as a statewide 4-H activity, the group collects dozens of other donations, including trucking and packing proposals to contain and deliver the meat, fuel and time to the project. This year, meat has been donated from 11 counties in Utah, one county in Idaho and another in Wyoming, from various buyers at the state and county fairs and ranchers who end up having extra livestock on hand.

"This program teaches people they don't have to go around the world to help with a natural disaster," Maxfield said. "Just walk down the street and you can see personal tragedy in the form of starving families."

Donors raise enough money to buy most of the 4-H livestock sold at county and state fair auctions and livestock shows over the course of about four months, said Justen Smith, USU Extension agricultural and 4-H youth agent for Davis County. The auction "floor price" goes to the 4-H participants and the meat goes to the Utah Food Bank, he said.

This year's donations, which are mainly composed of lamb, hogs and cattle raised by local 4-H youths, will be dispersed to feed thousands of hungry families in Utah.

"This amount of meat is something we wouldn't normally get at the food bank — high quality beef, pork and lamb," said Jim Pugh, executive director of the Utah Food Bank, adding that high-protein donations are always welcome. "This donation will make a huge difference in what we can offer needy families."

According to Utah Food Bank statistics, the 4-H meat donation program accounts for about 5 percent of proteins donated annually.

The Utah Food Bank operates 125 emergency food pantries and agencies statewide. Last year, 22.3 million pounds of food was distributed to Utah families, resulting in more than 17.4 million meals for people in need. A major change that will help the program grow even larger is that the food bank can now accept meat from state-inspected slaughter facilities. Up until last year, the USDA had to check off on facilities donating meat.

Maxfield said he is grateful to all the donors and volunteers who help to sort and ship the meat throughout the state to needy families.

"They make me feel very good about the future," he said.

e-mail: wleonard@desnews.com