NEW PHILADELPHIA — Buckeye Career Center staff has donated a market hog from the Tuscarawas County Fair to the Greater Dover-New Philadelphia Food Pantry.
Staff members raised $2,124 to purchase a 236-pound hog shown by Brady McGuire, an energy operations senior from Claymont High School, according to a community announcement. The hog was processed by Buckeye Career Center’s meat cutting, deli and bakery program, yielding about 130 pounds of ground sausage.
Buckeye Career Center staff members donated 130 pounds of ground sausage processed from a hog purchased during the Tuscarawas County Fair to the Greater Dover-New Philadelphia Food Pantry. Pictured are, from left, Sherry Cardani, Kevin Alexander, Brady McGuire, Bill Fritz and Bob Alsept.
The donation will make a meaningful but short-lived impact due to local demand, said Bill Fritz, treasurer of the food pantry.
“The need that we have is very real,” Fritz said in the announcement. “It’s not just Dover and New Philadelphia residents we serve. We serve all of Tuscarawas County and beyond — no less than 750 families each week. We try to make sure that they get enough food to support them for one week.”
McGuire plans to use proceeds for future career
McGuire, who was present during the pick-up, is in his final year of 4-H with the Rowdy Ramblers club. He began showing and selling hogs at 9 years old and plans to use the proceeds from this year’s sale to purchase tools and equipment for his future career as a utility lineworker or heavy equipment operator.
“It makes me feel good that other families are going to be fed because of my hog,” McGuire said in the announcement.
Buckeye Career Center staff began contributing to this year’s hog purchase in September. The initiative, led by superintendent’s secretary Sherry Cardani, included donations from teachers, instructors, support staff, administrators and others.
This marks the 15th consecutive year Buckeye Career Center staff has purchased a fair hog from a student, donating the processed meat to a local food pantry. Over the years, staff members have raised a total of $19,249.50 to support the effort.
This story was created by Jane Imbody, jimbody@gannett.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct/.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: A fair hog becomes 130 pounds of sausage for hungry families
