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County Fair Livestock Animals Headed for Harvest
By
Jeff
Franklin
 ASHLAND,
Ky., (Sept. 6, 2007) – It started last year with fresh produce
from the Boyd County Farmers’ Market, now you can add fresh meat
to that. As a result, needy people in the area will have more
food on their plates.
Last summer, farmers at the Boyd County Farmers’ Market donated
leftover corn, green beans, watermelons and other items each
week to River Cities Harvest, an organization that collects and
distributes perishable food to agencies that help feed the
hungry in the area. The idea came from Lyndall Harned, Boyd
County extension agent for agricultural and natural resources in
the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. Harned,
who sits on River Cities Harvest board of directors, took his
idea a step further.
“I suggested that the RCH people attend our county fair
livestock auction and talk to the buyers about what they were
going to do with the animals,” Harned said. “Many were just
simply going to send them to the local stockyards and get what
they could for them.”
The animals come from the fair’s 4-H livestock show and are
typically sold in the auction. Money from the sale of the
animals goes back to the 4-H member who owned them. Harned says
the money usually is put into a college fund for the 4-H member.
Last year, three goats and two lambs were donated as a start.
This year those numbers more than doubled. Four steers, three
lambs, six goats and a pig were donated to RCH, to have process
and distribute to their client agencies for use, just as they do
with the farmers’ market produce. After the animals were
processed at a local processing plant, the meat was given to
four agencies that prepare meals on site to feed the needy.
“They all prepare meals every day and they got ground meat to
get them through the winter,” said Amanda Gilmore, operations
coordinator for River Cities Harvest. “They can make lots of
spaghetti, chili, and it can go a long way by doing it this
way.”
One of the recipients of the meat is the Community Kitchen
located in the Parish Hall of Calvary Episcopal Church in
downtown Ashland. The Community Kitchen, which serves about 100
free lunches five days a week, received 550 pounds of beef, goat
and pork.
“We will put that beef in our chili and pasta, the pork we will
use in breakfast food,” said Diane Adams, food service manager
for the Community Kitchen. “We just use it in anything and
everything, we will use it.”
Adams said she uses around 20 to 30 pounds of meat a day in
recipes and this donation should last her about three months.
She is very appreciative of River Cities Harvest and what it
does for the community.
That is the same feeling at Ashland’s Child Development Center,
another agency which received a donation of 360 pounds of ground
beef. The agency feeds children who qualify for free or reduced
lunch, a breakfast, lunch and snack five days a week.
“That’s a big savings, because I order hamburger in big rolls,
so that helps a lot,” said Alma Miller, ACDC’s cook. “It’s about
$60 dollars for four, 10-pound rolls of hamburger, so this would
be a big savings.”
Harned said the donations are a win-win for everyone – the 4-H
members, various agencies and River Cities Harvest.
“I don’t see a downside to it,” he said. “There are no losers in
this and that’s rare in today’s society. But in this, everybody
is winning.”
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Contact: Lyndall Harned, 606-739-5184
Amanda Gilmore, 606-329-3045
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