4-H’ers fight food insecurity

For more than a decade, Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank (HCHFB) has run a program called Meating the Need which provides healthy LOCAL protein for the county’s most vulnerable kids and families and strengthens the partnerships between farm families and the greater community.

On Tuesday, July 21 at the 4-H Livestock Auction, HCHFB will purchase – with help from donors – beef, dairy cattle, and hogs from LOCAL 4-H members. Meating the Need donations go towards the sale of the animals and to the 4-H members as they pursue their 4-H, education, and life goals.

In 2022, owners of The Hamilton County Reporter brought back the tradition of printing comprehensive 4-H results in a special publication filled with abundant color photos of 4-H’ers and their projects. We also started a new tradition: using the advertising money from our 4-H publication to help families in need.

Despite its reputation for affluence, food insecurity throughout Hamilton County is a persistent challenge. According to HCHFB, the reality of food insecurity is stark: more than 33,000 residents – including a staggering 7,136 children under 18 years old – grapple with the uncertainty of where their next meal will come from.

When HCHFB gave us those numbers, we reached out to our advertisers asking them to help us help others.

“This community has an incredible heart for service and our advertisers all stepped up in a big way to help the Meating the Need program,” Publisher Stu Clampitt said.

In this year’s 4-H Results Special Edition you will see photos and articles from more Reporter friends and staff than ever before, and thanks to our numerous advertisers, we were still able to give $5,000 to help HCHFB fill the gap.

The Reporter stresses that the HCHFB donation check was not from the newspaper, but from the numerous people and businesses who gave their support both to help our neighbors who are struggling and to keep 4-H results in print every year.

Reporter Owner Ray Adler said the newspaper is just doing what it should.

“This is exactly what newspapers are supposed to do,” Adler said. “Don’t thank us. Thank everyone who said yes when we asked them to pitch in.”

We think every 4-H kid deserves to have their name in the newspaper. Keep reading The Reporter for updates on those forthcoming 4-H results!

You can learn more about HCHFB online at hchfoodbank.org.