Now a popular highlight during our annual month of giving, more than 100 fantastic 4-H, FFA, and OSU youth joined the Oklahoma Pork Council to participate in the Give-A-Ham Challenge with a hands-on volunteer shift filled with memorable Christmas costumes, big energy, and holiday cheer. Whether they came by bus from the panhandle or popped in from just down the road, these eager next generation leaders joined us last Friday to volunteer at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (RFBO) and celebrate pork producers' special $10,000 donation to the Pork for Packs Program.
Our energetic crew of volunteers worked with frozen bulk potatoes for RFBO's Backpacks Program - which is affiliated with our industry's Pork for Packs initiative. Pork for Packs utilizes donated hogs from Oklahoma 4-H and FFA members to create protein sticks for elementary students at risk of hunger. The pork sticks are distributed within the Backpacks Program to meet a real need by supplementing protein on weekends and holidays when school feeding programs are unavailable. Between the Regional Food Bank and the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, the program serves almost 600 schools in all 77 Oklahoma counties, providing backpacks of kid-friendly, non-perishable food to more than 35,000 chronically hungry children each week.
Some of the many hard-working volunteers who joined the fun included the full staff from Blue & Gold Sausage Co, a majority of the Oklahoma State FFA Officers, several OSU Pork Industry Group alums, and pig-loving 4-H and FFA members from many communities. Over the course of our afternoon of high efficiency potato-packing, we were proud to prepare a total of 10,700 meals through thousands of ready-to-cook chopped potato servings for hungry neighbors.
While these excited young people came together to serve, the Oklahoma Pork Council also took the opportunity to celebrate our board donating $10,000 this December to help cover processing costs of Pork for Packs donated animals in 2026. We are proud to continue celebrating the generosity of pig farmers and a strong partnership with our state food banks! Do you wish you could have joined our meaningful day at RFBO? Click here to see a variety of great ways to support their mission this holiday season!