Mid-Ohio Valley communities are filled with traditions we hold dear. Some of them are important fundraising or awareness efforts. Some of them are just cherished ways of giving back.

Among the latter is the annual Waterford FFA hog roast, which has been running for more than four decades.

Matt Hartline, agriculture teacher and FFA adviser, called it a “pay-it-forward event” that lets the FFA thank the community for its support.

“We have a community service event; we just call it the hog roast,” he said. “We cook about 50 pork butts or pork shoulders, and we smoke those. We make baked beans, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes – just the works – and we allow the community to come in, and we give them a free meal.”

Participating students get a sense of what it means to be part of such a supportive community, and to be able to express gratitude for that support.

“That’s probably the most important piece,” Hartline said.

Students say thank you, the community has another chance to show its support, and some really delicious meals are served while good conversation buzzes through the Waterford High School Ed Barnett Vocational Agricultural Building. It’s an inspiring day.

“It really brings the community together,” Hartline said.

Thank goodness for events such as the hog roast (and so many others) that do just that.