Kentucky Farm Bureau

OWENTON, Ky. (April 24, 2019) — Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance raised $107,100 to fight hunger and food insecurity in Kentucky in its inaugural Clays for a Cause event April 23.

The sporting clays event, which took place at Elk Creek Hunt Club in Owenton, was attended by 191 participants and supported by 37 sponsoring companies. All proceeds will be donated to local hunger-relief efforts as part of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Kentucky Hunger Initiative.

“The tournament exceeded our wildest expectations,” said John Sparrow, executive vice president and CEO of Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance. “We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for this cause, and we can’t thank our sponsors, volunteers, and participants enough for their collaborative efforts to help fight hunger right here in our state.”

The Kentucky Hunger Initiative was launched in 2016 to bring together farmers, charitable organizations, faith groups, community leaders, and government entities to look for ways to reduce hunger in Kentucky.

“In a state like Kentucky, one blessed with agricultural abundance, it is an unfortunate reality that one in six Kentuckians are food insecure,” said Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. “That’s why I started the Kentucky Hunger Initiative, a first-of-its-kind effort in our state to bring together all parts of the food distribution chain to fight hunger with a ‘farm-up’ approach. Words cannot express how overwhelmed I am to learn that Clays for a Cause raised $107,100 for hunger-relief efforts as a part of the Kentucky Hunger Initiative.”

According to meal and nutrition data from Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, and the USDA’s “What We Eat in America” report, an average meal is 1.2 pounds of food, and the average wholesale value of that food is $1.67 per pound. As a result, the six-figure contribution from Clays for a Cause is estimated to provide more than 50,000 meals to people facing hunger.

Due to the overwhelming success of the inaugural event, Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance plans to host Clays for a Cause on an annual basis.

Clays for a Cause is a sporting clays event produced and underwritten as a charitable fundraiser by Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company. Every dollar raised from the event through sponsorships, donations and participant entry fees is given to a charity or cause designated by KFB.

Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, center, joins, from left, Kentucky Farm Bureau president Mark Haney, KFB second vice president Sharon Furches, CEO of KFB Insurance John Sparrow, and KFB first vice president Eddie Melton during Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance’s inaugural Clays for a Cause event at Elk Creek Hunt Club in Owenton on April 23. (Kentucky Farm Bureau photo)