The Mid Valley Cowbelle’s third annual Beef in the Classroom was a huge success this year. With a generous donation from the San Joaquin-Stanislaus and Mariposa-Merced Cattlemen Association, the Mid Valley Cowbelles donated over 2000 pounds of ground hamburger meat to 13 local schools.

The Mid Valley Cowbelles partnered with the Waterford Pioneer Market to get the best price per pound for the ground hamburger meat and the Oakdale Culinary Institute was the staging place for all the schools to come and pick up their meat. Over 1,700 students received around 1.7 pounds of meat each to cook within their classroom.

Schools that participated in this year’s Beef in the Classroom included Merced High School, Oakdale Junior High School, Roberts Ferry, Turlock Junior High School, Modesto High School, Oakdale Culinary Institute, Hilmar High School, Turlock High School, Pitman High School, Pitman Culinary Institute, Enochs High School and Tioga High School.