On Thursday July 11, 2019 the Eaton County Junior Livestock Association is partnering with the Greater Lansing Food Bank to help businesses and individuals donate meat purchased at the Eaton County Fair 4-H & FFA Livestock Auction to the Food Bank. The Eaton County Junior Livestock Association consists of 4-H members and Charlotte, Maple Valley, Olivet and Springport FFA members aged 8-19 that raise and show beef, sheep and hogs at the Eaton County Fair.
Companies or individuals can purchase beef, sheep or hogs and they can choose to donate it to the Greater Lansing Food Bank to help “Meat the Needs of Eaton County”. At the end of the fair, volunteers transport the meat to a local processor and it is later distributed through food banks in the local area.
“These 4-H & FFA kids are our future, I don’t know of any other program that teaches a variety of skills to make our community better” says Brett Roberts former State Representative and owner of the Charlotte Dairy Queen. He added, “We choose to donate the meat to the Greater Lansing Food Bank because it is the right thing to do – we help the local kids and the local community”.
“In 2018 we had eleven animals donated, we hope to have even more donated in 2019” says Todd Powell from the Greater Lansing Food Bank.
In addition to supporting the Food Bank project, buyers can also attend the Junior Livestock Auction to purchase meat for their own freezers or choose to purchase the meat to share with their employees. David Howe from Beacon Sales & Service has been supporting the Eaton County 4-H & FFA Junior Livestock Auction for years. “This is a great chance for us to support the future leaders in our area - the work ethic and entrepreneurship skills that these kids learn is important for our community. We support the auction and share the beef and pork with our wonderful team of employees at Beacon Sales & Service.”
Buyers also have the option of supporting the 4-H and FFA members by purchasing the animals and then reselling them. The kids appreciate your support and you pay the difference between the set support prices and your bid price. The animals are then transported and resold to the local stockyard.
For those that aren’t interested in purchasing animals, but want to support the kids you can contribute a premium donation with can go directly to the kids on top of the sale price of their animals.
“I invite all of you to come out and support the kids. The partnership with the Greater Lansing Food Bank is a great way to give to charity and to reward the youth for their hard work” said long time sale supporter, former State Senate Rick Jones.
If you are interested in becoming a buyer, you can contact the MSU Extension office at 517- 543-2310 to request a buyer pass to enter the fairgrounds or contact a youth selling in the sale. Prior years' buyers are mailed a pass in June.
If you would like to support the auction but can’t attend, proxy bidding sheets are available. Once they are completed, sale management can bid in your place.
The auction starts promptly at 10:00 am on Thursday July 11. Sale order is beef, dairy feeder calves, sheep and swine. Complementary BBQ Luncheon is served to all registered buyers.
Detailed information about the sale, please go to our website: http://msue.anr.msu.edu/county/eaton/jla_saa_sale_buyer_page
Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/Eaton-County-Junior-Livestock-Association-352657105391464/
For questions, please contact the Eaton County MSU Extension office at 517-543-2310 or msue.eaton@county.msu.edu.
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