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Boy’s 4-H pig bought, donated to Rescue Mission
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Cole Shehan, 12, of North Lima raised a pig he named Big Ben to show at the Canfield Fair. Big Ben’s buyer donated the pig to the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. Joining Cole on a tour of the mission were his grandmother, Pam Manchester of Boardman, and the Rev. David Sherrard, director of the mission.
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Cole Shehan, 12, of North Lima, was saddened to see his 4-H pig Big Ben sold for meat after showing him at the 2011 Canfield Fair. However learning that the meat would help feed people at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley he cheered Cole up. He is with the Rev. David Sherrard, director of the mission, in the men’s dormitory.
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Cole poses with his 4-H pig Big Ben at the 2011 Canfield Fair.
YOUNGSTOWN
Cole Shehan was more than a little bummed when Big Ben, his 4-H pig, sold for meat at the Canfield Fair.
But the 12-year-old’s usual big smile returned when he learned Big Ben would help feed people at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley.
“It was better when I understood. I got all happy,” he said Monday before a tour of the Rescue Mission — including the kitchen.
Cole, a sixth-grader at South Range Middle School, had gotten attached to Big Ben while raising him from about 90 pounds in the spring to the 309-pound porker he took to the fair in September.
“Cole knew all along that Big Ben would be sold for meat, but it was still difficult for him until he found out the meat was going to be used to help people. Then he was fine,” said his grandmother, Pam Manchester, an employee of Burger Travel Service in Youngstown.
In fact, Cole is so OK with it, he said he plans to raise another pig for next year’s fair.
Cole’s siblings, brother Kaden, 9, and sisters Lexie, 8, and Alaina, 4, the children of Scott and Sherri Manchester Shehan, also raised pigs in a shed built by their father in the backyard of their North Lima home.
Kaden’s pig won some ribbons at the fair, but the girls were too young to show their animals, who were nicknamed “Sausage” and “Bacon,” Manchester said.
This was not the first time competing at the fair for Cole and Kaden; but last year they showed lizards and did not have to face losing them.
Manchester’s boss, Debra J. Burger, agreed to buy Big Ben if it went to the Rescue Mission, Cole’s grandmother said.
Cole, whose other grandparents are Gary and Pam Manchester of North Lima, and Robert and Sandra Shehan of Gibsonburg, Ohio, received high praise from the Rev. David Sherrard, director of the Rescue Mission.
“We love you the way you loved Big Ben and the way you love other people. I see a young man who is thinking beyond himself and helping others,” said the Rev. Mr. Sherrard, who presented a certificate of appreciation to Cole.
“I personally think it is a very good experience for the kids in 4-H. It teaches responsibility, how to manage money and how to make money,” Cole’s grandmother said.
And from that perspective, too, Cole’s 4-H project was a success.
He calculated that it cost $350 to raise Big Ben, and he sold the pig for $1,060. He said his parents suggested he use the money to start a college fund.