Junior Fair Board takes home $5,000 prize

Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st have announced the winners of the second installment of the Fight the Hunger Stock the Trailer Contest. Junior county fair boards from 55 Ohio counties gathered 169,456 pounds of food for 73 food banks over the course of fair season. The Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer Contest is hosted on a regional basis. Award money goes directly to Junior Fair activities.

In the South Ohio Region, county junior fair boards from Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Franklin, Highland, Madison, Pickaway, Pike, Ross and Scioto counties collected food during their respective fairs. This year, Highland County came in first place collecting 11,180 pounds of food. In second place collecting 8,761 pounds of food was Adams County and coming in third was Madison County with 7,676 pounds of food.

“Fight Hunger, Stock the Trailer has grown remarkably in its second year,” says Rudi Pitzer-Perry, regional vice president of agricultural lending for Farm Credit Mid-America. “That growth has not only come from the expansion of the contest to more areas of Ohio but due to the enthusiasm our team members, youth leaders and fair goes have demonstrated over the past few months.”

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. Junior county fair boards were invited to participate in the challenge to fight hunger and had the opportunity to get creative with their food drives.

“It has been incredibly inspiring and exciting to see how youth leaders used their creativity,” says Amanda Lovedahl, an associate financial officer for Farm Credit Mid-America and one of the team members who leads the Fight Hunger, Stock the Trailer initiative. “The contest encourages competitors to come up with fun ways to engage their communities and drive donations.”

Prizes include a $500 award for each county fair that participates, followed by a $5,000 donation to the fair that raises the most food, followed by $3,500 for second place and $1,500 for third place within each respective region. In total, Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st awarded more than $60,000 to junior fairs.

Submitted by Amanda Lovedahl, associate financial officer, Farm Credit Mid-America.