The Oklahoma Pork Council was recently able to make an impressive 6,000 pork stick donation to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma's Backpack Program during National Pork Month
As we close the impressive book on National Pork Month 2024 here in Oklahoma, we want to provide more detail about the special pork stick donation provided to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (RFBO) during October.
Each year, Oklahoma Pork finds opportunities to invest in RFBO's Backpack Program. As you may recall, the Backpack Program meets a serious need by supplementing nutrition on weekends and holidays when school feeding programs are unavailable. Through the Regional Food Bank alone, the Backpack Program dispenses around 17,000 backpacks per week to students suffering from food insecurity. Paired with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma's enrollment, the statewide program supplies kid-friendly, non-perishable food to more than 35,000 chronically hungry children each week.
One important element in the Backpack Program weekly mix is protein, often supplied through pork sticks created from Oklahoma's "Pork for Packs" program in conjunction with 4-H and FFA show pig donations. According to RFBO expert Jack Miller, about 1,400 pork sticks can be made out of each donated pig, with an average of 8 sticks made per pound of pork. In 2023, RFBO reported around $70,000 in processing costs to make these nutritious on-the-go snacks for backpack recipients in their region. In addition to Oklahoma Pork's financial support to help cover those processing costs, it was our organization's honor to donate 6,000 pork sticks processed by Ralph's Packing Company as a meaningful Pork Month celebration. We also extend a heartfelt thanks to the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture who sponsored the pork stick labels on this cool donation. What better way to celebrate our industry than to help feed hungry kids alongside our great partner Farm Bureau?
The Regional Food Bank has indicated that a future goal of 400 donated show pigs would help them meet their annual goal for pork sticks in the Backpack Program. Although there is still progress to be made on the logistics of timing, transport and processing for those animals - we at Oklahoma Pork want to continue working to help meet that goal. Giving back is what pig farmers do, and we are continually honored to help make these special opportunities to connect people with pork a reality!