By Jessica Mathews/News@whmi.com


A Howell farm is seeking donations to help local food pantries already feeling the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Financial support is being sought to the non-profit Earl Farm Foundation, which will convert the funds raised into one-pound packages of ground beef hamburger and then hand deliver them to local food pantries.

The Earl family has been donating beef regularly for many years but increased efforts in 2017 following a fundraising event in which more than $12,000 was raised. Since then, the family has donated between 3-5 cows per year, with Brent Earl setting a personal goal to gift 100 cows in his lifetime. Earl says the heightened need for local food pantries with the continuing crisis will most likely continue for several months to come, perhaps until the end of the year. While he doesn’t have a crystal ball to know exactly how bad it might get, Earl said from what he’s been hearing local food pantries will be stressed beyond measure for some time and could push some to the brink. That’s why he wants to get the ball rolling now so as many contributions can be made as possible for the remainder of the year. With the donated funds, Earl is able to purchase cows from other farms he has connections with, send them to a USDA meat processor and turn them into the packages for local food pantries.

Earl tells WHMI with what’s going on in the world and what’s going on locally with people losing their jobs and the unemployment rate going up; there is currently a stress and need at local food banks and pantries. Earl says since they’ve done this before, know how to do it, and know exactly where things need to be; they’re asking friends and family and anyone else out there interested to help them provide more ground beef and hamburger to local food pantries.

100% of donations will go toward the purchase and processing of the beef, which Earl and other volunteers will distribute to the pantries. Earl says that beef is a very good source of protein that is easy to prepare and serve an entire family. Earl added when he buys a cow from a farmer, by law that cow has to go to a USDA meat processing company. He says since it is USDA certified, once that label is placed on the package, it can then be gifted to a local pantry. Earl says that way when people go to a local pantry and pick up a package with a label; they can feel safe and comfortable that it is certified ground beef. The average cost of a single cow to purchase and process is $1,500, which produces approximately 500 pounds of burger. Earl says if they could provide 5-6 cows per month, then that would be a huge infusion of one-pound packages to the community. Earl pegs the actual need in the $100's of thousands of dollars but says if they can supply a portion of that need, then they can remove a portion of stress on the food bank network.

More information on donating, how the process works and a video message from Earl can be found through the provided link. Earl says he’ll continue to provide community updates so the public can see their donations at work.