The YEAH Program

We'll start off this post with explaining what YEAH stands for. I think that, as most of you probably don't know what it means, telling you what YEAH means would be a good starting point for this post. After all, if we go ahead and tell you what YEAH does, you might be able to deduce what it stands for. But, if you know what YEAH stands for, it will just help when I'm explaining what YEAH does.

The YEAH Program is a food bank that...what? I didn't tell you what YEAH stands for? Goodness gracious! I better get onto it, then. YEAH stands for Youth Efforts Against Hunger. As I was starting to say, the YEAH Program is a food bank "midway" point, so to speak. As the acronym says, it's the youth's (generally 4H/FFA youth) way of opposing hunger in Clark County (I'm sure if one lives in another county, he could substitute his county for "Clark"). The YEAH Program distributes the food to different food banks throughout Clark County. The food that they distribute can come to them in a couple different ways: first, straightforward, honest donation. This can be in money, food, and even animals. For example, in 2012, a total of $20,530 was donated in cash/check form¹. 43 animals were also donated, worth about $2,884. The Clark County Food Bank said that this is enough meat for 3,500 meals for families in Clark County.

Another way that the YEAH Program can get food is purchasing/processing it. A big place that they get the animals that they purchase/process is the JLA at the Clark County Fair. JLA stands for Junior Livestock Auction, and it is where we, in 4H, sell our animals. (Quick rabbit trail: if you’re a buyer, you can do several things at the Auction. You can buy the animal for your freezer (recommended), or you can give the 4H or FFA member who’s selling an animal a donation (called an “add-on;” recommended), or you can buy the animal, and donate it to the YEAH Program (also recommended). That’s one way that YEAH gets food from the Auction (through the generous donations of the buyer…potentially you)). Funds from the YEAH Program are used to process the animals donated. If, after that, there are still funds available, YEAH will purchase animals. In 2012, the YEAH Program purchased and processed a total of 56 animals, costing $16,500.

So, the YEAH Program: what do you now know about it? Hopefully more than when you started. Here’s some basics – food donated to the Clark County Food Bank from the YEAH Program stays exclusively in Clark County. The YEAH Program is well-known at the JLA, and several buyers donate their animals to the YEAH Program. If you followed this entire post, then yeah! If not, or if something was confusing, please leave a comment or email.

Josh: editor of the Coderlambian

¹all statistics are from this site.