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<\/p>\nThe grand champion market steer of the Boulder County Fair represents the best of what 4-H farmers have to offer. This year, thanks to a donation from local business sponsors, that prize will help feed community members served by Longmont Meals on Wheels.<\/p>\n
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At the junior market livestock sale that closed out last month\u2019s fair, Chris Rusk and Neil Motley banded together to buy the steer. On Wednesday, Rusk and Motley joined John Herring, president of the Boulder County Fair Junior Livestock Sale Committee, in bringing a truck bed filled with packaged meat from the animal to the LMOW kitchen at the Longmont Senior Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably six, seven thousand dollars of savings right there,\u201d LMOW head chef Charles Mascarenas said about the donation.<\/p>\n
Mascarenas and his team cook around 500 meals a day,\u00a0and the donation should cover roughly two weeks of meat entrees. The meat was delivered in patties, ground beef, cuts for stew and other forms that Mascarenas can turn into nutritious meals for people who need them.<\/p>\n
Rusk is the service manager for the Mike Maroone Ford Longmont dealership, and Motley is the branch manager for 21st Century Equipment east of Longmont. While both men have supported other local food banks and Meals on Wheels locations for years, this is the first time either of them have donated a fair purchase to LMOW.<\/p>\n
Additionally, while LMOW has received meat from Boulder County Fair business sponsors in the past, including a pork donation last year, Mascarenas said it\u2019s been a while since the nonprofit has gotten beef.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever we serve pot roast or anything with beef, our numbers in the dining room go up for that day, just because a lot of people at home can\u2019t afford to buy the meat,\u201d Mascarenas explained. \u201cThis is one way for a lot of people to really get a taste of how good that meat really is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Motley also emphasized the high quality of the meat and its homegrown, farm-to-freezer elements.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour food doesn\u2019t actually come on Styrofoam in plastic wrap,\u201d Motley said. \u201cThis meat is being handled the best possible way it can be. These animals are being raised the best possible way they can be raised. So if we can expose people to that story, the true story of the rancher heritage of the West \u2026 then we\u2019ve succeeded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colleen Larsen, a longtime LMOW volunteer, said the donation aligns with the nonprofit\u2019s mission of keeping seniors in their homes as long as possible through good nutrition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go out and I deliver to these people all the time, and it\u2019s just huge when they say, \u2018These meals taste so good, I would have never cooked this for myself,\u2019\u201d Larsen said.<\/p>\n
The champion steer was raised by Jett Hinze, who also won the senior category of the 4-H Beef Showmanship competition. This was Hinze\u2019s last year showing at the fair, as the Erie High School graduate is now attending the University of Nebraska Lincoln.<\/p>\n
Hinze\u2019s 1,435-pound steer was bought by Rusk and Motley for $10,000 \u2013 a record, according to Herring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe set records across the board,\u201d Herring said. \u201cThe average steer brought eight grand to the kids going through the sale. At those prices, the kids can make a significant amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
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For Rusk, whose kids used to show livestock at the fair, buying the steer was a chance to support both the 4-H members who dedicate so much time to raising their animals as well as a nonprofit close to his heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife\u2019s grandmother lived in town for a lot of years, and she was a recipient of Meals on Wheels,\u201d said Rusk. \u201cThe amount of meat we can give you guys \u2026 it really gives back to the community we work in and we live in, so that\u2019s the best thing we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n