DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — A Dayton farm and non-profit is looking to donate ground beef to people living in East Palestine.
Matthew Keener is the owner of Keener Farm. His family’s farming journey began in 1830.
“It’s almost 200 years now that we’ve been here on this farm. It’s been in the family, we still have the same deed,” Keener explained.
It is now a thriving cattle farm that provides beef to people and restaurants across the Dayton area. With business going well, Keener said it was time to give back to the Miami Valley. He formed the Keener Farm Charity in 2022, and began donating fresh beef to The Food Bank, Inc., and other local food pantries.
“We started the nonprofit because we were getting to the point where we could see that the community needed some help. And I knew that our skillset through our farm to table distribution chains was a good avenue to provide some help for folks,” Keener said.
Keener is now expanding his reach across the state to East Palestine. He wants to help the people still dealing with the aftermath of the massive train derailment. His goal is to donate about a pound of ground beef to everyone living there.
“I think there’s around 4,000 people in the area there. And that’s kind of the number that we’re shooting for is to donate somewhere around that,” Keener said.
Keener said he has already spoken to churches and food pantries in East Palestine to help distribute the beef. Now, he is asking the community to help him reach his goal.
“I was shocking for everybody. I think globally people saw what had happened and with us doing the charity, it was just a perfect opportunity to utilize what we got started with the charity,” Keener said.
People can donate to Keener Farm Charity by clicking here. To learn more about the farm and its products, click here. The nonprofit is also looking for corporate donors. Keener said their goal is provide 40,000 portions of beef weekly to food banks across the state.
