Farm Credit Mid-America, Rural 1st, and 16 Indiana county 4-H fairs partnered together to start the ‘Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer’ food drive in Indiana. Through this food drive, 37,297 pounds were collected for 25 local food banks across Indiana.
Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st created the Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer contest to further engage county fairs to collect food donations for local communities. Fair boards were invited to participate in the challenge to fight hunger and had the opportunity to get creative with their food drives.
Fairs who participated in the food drive earned $500 and the top three winning fairs won $3,000, $2,000, $1,000 to go towards their 4-H youth activities. In total this year, Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st awarded $14,000 to Indiana county 4-H fairs through Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer. The top winning county 4-H fairs included Jackson County with 11,700 pounds, Madison County with 7,080 pounds, and Jennings County with 5,030 pounds.
“It has been incredibly inspiring and exciting to see how youth leaders used their creativity,” says Jessica Weathers, an Associate Financial Officer for Farm Credit Mid-America and one of the team members who leads the Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer initiative. “The contest encourages competitors to come up with fun ways to engage their communities and drive donations.”
Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st are proud of the impact created in the first year and look forward to expanding this initiative across the state. If your county fair is interested in participating in Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer food drive next year, reach out to your local Farm Credit Mid-America office at 800-888-FARM to start the conversation.
