Published: July 16, 2008 11:45 pm      

The fair that keeps giving

Donors give 76 animals to Kokomo Rescue Mission

The Kokomo Rescue Mission will soon be serving fair food to its clients.

But rather than serving giant turkey legs, elephant ears, fried veggies and tacos in a bag, mission cooks are serving pork burgers, meatloaf and tacos, all made with meat from goats, sheep, pigs and a steer shown at the Howard County 4-H Fair.

Buyers purchased and donated 76 animals to the Rescue Mission, and another 10 animals were donated to Howard Haven, according to Dave Eikenberry, auction chairman.

Van Taylor, the mission’s executive director, said the group received one steer, five sheep, seven goats and 63 hogs. He expects to pick up the first load of processed pork this week.

“It’s a wonderful amount of pork. We’re very happy with the support of the community. This is going to be a difficult year for under-resourced people” he said, adding that he anticipates serving 10,000 more meals in 2007 than in 2008.

He said with fuel prices skyrocketing and food prices increasing, “it’s sad, but not too surprising there are more people who need food assistance.”

Taylor said the donated meat is “a huge portion of our protein for the entire year.”

He said while they usually have a lot of canned food donated through the year, the meat from the auction is “the protein that makes the meatloaf, that makes the stews and the pork and beans, with all those other staple foods, this is where that comes from.”

He said staff members competed to come up with recipes to use the meat, including the sheep and goat meat, with recipes that use staple foods.

“With the goat and the sheep, the ground meat, we’ve really found it very good with taco seasoning on it for taco salad. It’s a very tender meat.”

Taylor appreciates the work the 4-H’ers put into the animals, as well as the generosity of the businesses who buy and donate the animals.

“The special attention the animals received now goes to special people in the community, those under-resourced people. Now [the 4-H’ers] know their animal is serving another need. It’s a great blessing.”

Taylor anticipates spending about $6,000 to process the meat. The Kokomo Rescue Mission is accepting donations to defray that expense. To make a donation, call (765) 456-3838.