Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays caught up with Oklahoma Pork Council Treasurer Tom Layne to talk about the Give-A-Ham Challenge campaign, which kicked off here in 2024 on Giving Tuesday. Joe Locke, Director of Sow Operations for Tyson’s Pork Group and Oklahoma Pork Council President, and Tyson Foods partnered with the Oklahoma Pork Council to distribute more than 1,200 free pork sandwiches on the OSU Campus in Stillwater on Giving Tuesday
While the Give-A-Ham campaign is a national effort to promote pork to consumers as those who participate are helping their neighbors and those who need help, Oklahoma’s Pork Council is going all out to spread the concept statewide.
“As pork producers, it gives us an opportunity to give back to those in our communities that are in the greatest need,” Layne said.
The campaign began with a pork producer giving a ham, and then challenging another to do the same; however, Executive Director Kylee Deniz took it to the next level by expanding to other pork products on a greater scale.
“The HANOR Company, that I work for, has given away twelve hundred pounds of fresh pork this year, to our local Loaves & Fishes, through the United Way of Northwest Oklahoma,” Lock said.
After the event in Stillwater, Joe Locke challenged Governor Keven Stitt to continue the challenge, which has spread to include all of the Oklahoma Pork Council Board members. “I got challenged by Brett Ramsey, with Blue and Gold Sausage,” Layne shared. “So, I’m here today to carry that forward with you, Ron. We are going to challenge you to give a ham this season. We are also going to challenge Dan Schiedel with Northwest Oklahoma United Way.”
In previous years of Give-A-Ham challenges, Hays has given to the Jeremiah House in Chandler which helps men seeking rehabilitation.
Layne shared his own experience of need by telling of his impoverished roots, and how his family was humbled by offers of help around the Christmas season. This makes giving to the holiday season very personal to him.
He encouraged others to join the campaign, saying, “You can give a ham anywhere you want. For us, in Northwest Oklahoma, Loaves & Fishes out of Enid, Oklahoma would be happy to get your donation and give it out to someone in need, but I’m sure, wherever you are at, there is someone who can use that.”
He told of the humbling experience of serving a meal at the Oklahoma City Mission last year. “One of HANOR’s great values is that we need to have a positive impact,” he said. “It is innate in use as pork producers because we have stewardship over those animals. When we have inclement weather, we have one hundred percent attendance at our farms. That tells you how much our employees care for the animals, and we want to give that same care back to our fellow human beings as well.”
Hays will announce his Give a Ham Challenge this coming week. The hams in the above picture have already moved on to the Grace Rescue Mission in Oklahoma City.
