ELKHART — Emily Sheets is like most other teens, with plenty of uses for money: Her car, her future, items for herself.

She did something unusual with one of her 4-H animals this year, though. The 16-year-old Nappanee girl gave away one of her pigs, donating it to Church Community Services and helping hand out meat to the clients of the CCS food pantry.

“I can use (money) for a vehicle or whatever I want to use it for, but they need food. I have all the food I need,” Emily explained Friday in the food pantry.

NorthWood FFA supporters were very generous to her at the fair auction, buying her calf and one of her pigs, she said.

Only two animals can go through the 4-H auction. As the eight-year 4-H member explained, if you have more than that, “you can sell them for market price, but I’d already made a lot of money and this goes to a better cause than me.”

Mary Kneller, food services director for CCS, said Emily’s gift fills a huge need. “Her generosity, honestly, that kind of thing brings me to tears,” Kneller said.

“We’re seeing 2,300 families a month,” plus home-bound seniors. They try to hand out at least two pounds of meat, and the federal free-food program has seen significant cuts, reducing the ability to provide protein to people.

CCS has been working on ways to sustain their giving, recently starting a seed-to-feed program to provide fresh food for clients. “They want nutritional food for their families,” Kneller said.

“Everything in this program so far has been donated,” with 75 acres. The NorthWood and Fairfield FFA chapters agreed to jointly help maintain the plot.

That’s what planted the seed for Emily’s donation.

Her FFA chapter met with CCS before the fair about maintaining the vegetables, and during the fair, Emily’s dad suggested she think about doing something different with her third animal.

“When my dad said that, it made me think of this,” she said. “I would never have thought of this if my dad hadn’t said that. I guess it’s just a God thing,” she said.

Rod Roberson, executive director of CCS, said of Emily, “this is what leaders are made of. We’re awfully glad we have this kind of spirit in our community.”

Kneller said, “Kids like her, they need recognition.”

Emily said it was nice to be able to help with the pig she raised. “It’s neat handing out pieces of it,” she said. “It’s kind of a cool experience, I guess. I never thought I’d be doing this.”

She said she’d recommend it to other 4-Hers in the future.

Kneller said CCS would be glad to have Emily’s generosity catch on.