New Philadelphia, OH (October 15, 2024) – The Buckeye Career Center staff has wrapped up its annual purchase and donation of a hog from the Tuscarawas County Fair, with this year’s hog benefiting the Dover New Philadelphia Food Pantry. A portion of the proceeds were also donated to the Buckeye Foundation to benefit the Shannon Wigfield Memorial Scholarship.
BCC Superintendent Bob Alsept looks forward to the hog donation effort each year. “We’re able to help a student and the community. This is one of my favorite projects because there are a lot of folks involved and a lot of entities that benefit from it,” he said.
Staff members raised $1,580 towards the purchase of Madison Cottrell’s 238-pound market hog. Cottrell is a senior from Claymont, enrolled in BCC’s Construction Technology program. She is a member of the Boots and Chutes 4-H club. She explained that selling a hog gets easier each year but this sale meant the most. “This makes me feel good and makes me feel like my hard work went to something good,” said Cottrell.
The 113- one-pound packs of ground sausage will be available this weekend at the food pantry, according to the organization’s treasurer, Bill Fritz. “This donation will go far. We feed about 800 families right now, so this will go a ways to helping families,” said Fritz.
Volunteer chief operations officer Jim Rice explained that ground sausage is a rare item to find at the food pantry, except in the weeks following the fair. “Our families very much appreciate it because this is the most difficult product to get. We can get canned goods regularly but fresh produce and meat is especially hard to get,” he said. The food pantry is located at 420 W 3rd St, Dover, OH 44622.
The remaining $212 raised has been donated to the Buckeye Foundation and earmarked for the Shannon Wigfield Memorial Scholarship. Wigfield was a longtime BCC instructor and tragically lost her life in 2023.
The hog was processed by BCC’s own Meat Cutting, Deli, & Bakery students and instructor Mr. Scott Ripley. Staff members began contributing money to the fundraising effort in September. All money was raised by teachers, instructors, support workers, administration, and others. This is the 14th consecutive year that staff members have raised money to purchase a hog from a student, raising a total of $17,125.50 over the years. The effort was spearheaded this year by superintendent’s secretary Mrs. Sherry Cardani.
Photo: 2024 BCC Hog Donation: Cardani, Rice, Cottrell, Fritz, and Alsept.