Continuing its annual support for local 4-H and FFA exhibitors, CNX supported eight fairs across western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia this season, purchasing 31 exhibits at seven livestock sales. Those purchases recognized months of work by young people raising animals, with the livestock then processed and donated to help feed people in local communities.
CNX’s support was unique to each fair. The company purchased animals at livestock sales at the Dayton, Greene County, Jacktown, Washington County, West Alexander, and Westmoreland fairs in Pennsylvania and the Marshall County Fair in West Virginia, and also supported West Virginia’s Battelle District Fair. CNX also exhibited at the Greene County Fair, West Alexander’s sale took place in the CNX Show Arena, and at Jacktown, CNX added $100 for each exhibitor to help start next year’s projects.
Behind each sale was a young exhibitor with time, money, and effort invested in an animal. In Greene County, one of those exhibitors had already introduced himself to CNX in another capacity: shareholder.
A young shareholder with a head for business
Zach Butler doesn’t just raise cattle. He runs the numbers on them.
Now an eighth grader, Zach lives on his family’s generational farm in Greene County and has shown cattle through 4-H for several years. Along the way, he has developed an interest in the business behind the work, including what it costs to raise a steer and what it brings at sale.
Ahead of the 2025 Greene County Fair, Zach wrote to then-CNX CEO Nick DeIuliis, introducing himself as a CNX shareholder and inviting Nick to the livestock sale. That August, the letter led to a visit to CNX’s offices, where Zach met with Nick, Alan Shepard, and other members of the CNX team to discuss his cattle project and its economics.
The conversation became an ongoing connection. Zach stayed in touch with CNX and joined the company’s Intro to Energy Day last year, and again this past September 17.
This fair season, Zach invited Alan, now CNX’s president and CEO, and CNX General Counsel Tim Bedard to the Greene County Fair. They toured the 4-H barns and talked about the livestock and the investment exhibitors had made in their projects.
From a cattle project to a community contribution
At this year’s Greene County sale, CNX purchased Zach’s steer. The company had the animal processed and donated 842 pounds of protein to Corner Cupboard Food Bank, enough for roughly 3,370 meals.
Zach joined the CNX team to help unload the truck and hand off the delivery. He was able to see his project through another step, from raising an animal and taking it to sale to helping deliver food for his neighbors.
Zach also gives back on his own. He sets aside 10% of what he earns from his projects for causes close to home and beyond, including The Way Community Center in Waynesburg, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and First Baptist Church, where he attends.
Zach plans to pursue a business degree in college. His experience raising cattle, tracking costs, giving back, and building relationships is providing a truly unique start.
His story is one example of how CNX’s fair-season support reached beyond the auction ring. Across all seven sales, CNX purchased six steers, nine hogs, nine lambs, and seven goats, rewarding young exhibitors’ work and donating the resulting protein to local food programs. In all, CNX’s fair-season purchases provided nearly 8,000 pounds of protein, or about 32,000 meals for neighbors across the region.
For CNX, supporting 4-H and FFA is about helping reward our young people’s efforts and enabling their work to go further. So, when the fairs end, their impact continues through the food these projects provide to local neighbors.
