A cornerstone of okPORK’s mission has been supporting communities. As a staff, we take pride in using your checkoff dollars to give back to those in need all across our state. Early in the COVID-19 quarantine it became apparent many Oklahomans would need support. And those who weren’t out of work could use a boost of joy into their community and other groups need a big thank you for their hard work.

So, Lloyd Hawkins fired up the smoker and went to work feeding people who were hurting. To date he has had the opportunity to feed four separate groups.

The first was the employees that work on the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. When the city went on quarantine all events on the fairgrounds were cancelled. So many people who were there were furloughed. okPORK was able to provide smoked pork loins to 40 families.

Another industry that was hit hard was the service industry at restaurants and hotels. We teamed up with the chef of Mary Eddy’s restaurant in the 21c hotel in downtown OKC to feed 200 people who work in the service industry and were suddenly without a job.

Tina Falcon, pig farmer from Tecumseh, Oklahoma, contacted us with an opportunity to work with her church, The Evangelistic Center Church, and feed folks in the area. We began to spread the word, along with the church, and on a Wednesday night in mid-April we fed more than 300 people a pork sandwich and chips.

The employees of the Oklahoma Animal Disease and Diagnostic Lab in Stillwater helped our state in a big way when they began processing COVID-19 tests rapidly and in large numbers. This service was critical to our state early in this fight to get good data and also give those wondering about their health quick answers. We were glad to provide a pork carnitas lunch to the 50 OADDL employees the first week of May.

It’s always a pleasure to represent Oklahoma pig farmers by handing out amazing smoked pork meals. If you know of a group that we can support or say thank you too, please contact Lloyd Hawkins, lhawkins@okpork.org.