After showing a steer at the 2019 Delaware County Fair, a local student recently donated the carcass to feed the hungry.
Trenton Wilson, a member of the Eagle Country 4-H Club, who won the Market Beef Showmanship division in the Junior Showmanship (8-11 years old) class, was on hand to help unload the truckload of processed meat for Big Walnut Friends Who Share at the Sunbury United Methodist Church on Oct. 11. The 660 pounds of beef, butchered and processed by Delaware Meats, was packed into coolers in the bed of BWFWS President Larry Tornes’ pickup truck.
“We’ve never had a meat donation of this magnitude before,” Tornes said.
Trenton, 11, a sixth grade student at Big Walnut Intermediate School who lives in Sunbury, said he raised Sticky the steer with the intention of donating the carcass to the local food pantry. It was his first time raising a steer.
“I feel grateful we could do it,” Trenton said. “We take this for granted.”
Gene Wampler, center director for BWFWS, said the nonprofit organization spends between $3,000 to $5,000 a month on food to stock its pantry. In addition, it gives out furniture, clothes, and toys to those who need it.
“We are most grateful to a group of supporters who have contributed to make our dream of donating this entire carcass of beef to our local food pantry Big Walnut Friends Who Share a reality,” said Trenton’s mother, Tiffany Wilson. “Sticky the steer spent a year under our care growing and becoming a safe food source. At 1,108 pounds later, he will now go on and help feed those in our own community that can’t afford quality meat.”
A group of small businesses teamed up to purchase Trenton’s steer at auction: Champion Feed and Pet Supply, Tom and Elizabeth Filbert, Washington’s Do It Best Hardware, Wilson Lawn and Field Services LLC, Anthony Dental, Amy Howerton of The Inn At Walnut Trail, Sunbury Business Group, Rich’s Auto Care, 1st Impressions Landscape and Garden Center, Rogers Farmland Management, and Sunbury Ace Hardware.
Tiffany Wilson said that “4-H is all about giving back to the community, and I am so grateful that Trenton, with support, was able to do such a great deed.”
The charity’s website states, “The Mission of the Big Walnut Friends Who Share is to work to improve the living conditions of families and individuals in need/crisis who reside in the Big Walnut School District by securing donated items (including clothing, food, household furnishings, cash contributions, etc.) and then distributing them free of charge to these persons.”
BWFWS is supported by contributions from area businesses, churches, the community, fraternal organizations and schools. The nonprofit serves more than 320 families monthly, provides school supplies for 172 students, and Christmas presents for 114 families, with a total of 223 children.
For more information, please visit www.bigwalnutfriendswhoshare.org or call 740-965-9596.
