Help make sure kids don’t go hungry this summer.

FFA members, there’s a problem. And, we believe that you can help solve it.

During the school year, many children receive free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch through the USDA’s School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs.

But, what happens when school lets out?

Lack of nutrition during the summer months may set up a cycle for poor performance once school begins again. Hunger is one of the most severe roadblocks to the learning process, and may also make children more prone to illness and other health issues. The Summer Food Service Program is designed to fill that nutrition gap and make sure children can get the nutritious meals they need.

Living to Serve: Environmental Grants

Earth Team Volunteer and National Proficiency Award Winner Mallory McDevitt

 

 

We are  excited to announce a new grant opportunity for FFA chapters:  Living to Serve: Environmental Grants!

Chapters may apply for up to $2,000 to support year-long service-learning projects focused on developing and implementing projects that address local environmental needs.

Applications are due June 1, 2012. Project topics include, but are not limited to:

• Wildlife conservation
• Land preservation
• Environmental education and stewardship
• Recycling and composting

The application and additional information can be found on the grant website, www.FFA.org/envirogrants.

The Living to Serve: Environmental Grants are provided through funding from CSX as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

Inborn Fondness

By Cain Thurmond, Southern Region Vice President

Each year, FFA members recite the FFA Creed while competing in a career development event; others, to receive their chapter degree while many live by these five paragraphs daily. The Creed is the cornerstone of the beliefs we possess as members of this organization, but how often do we stop and reflect on its words? The second paragraph of the FFA Creed includes a line, “…for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny.”

The chapter that never sleeps.

Franklin County Middle FFA achieved new heights in leadership during the 2009-2010 school year, growing both as individuals and as a chapter.

After winning the Outstanding Middle School award for the 2008-2009 school year, Franklin County Middle FFA in Georgia could have rested on their laurels. Instead, they got right back to work and didn’t stop all year.

They started by setting a long list of goals.

Bound for Brazil.

Many FFA members would love to travel to far-off places, but few get the opportunity.

Count 18 Wauseon FFA members in Ohio among the lucky ones: They participated in “Wauseon FFA Goes Global: Brazil 2009!” on 24 different tours throughout Brazil over nine days.

The initial goal was to send at least 15 Wauseon FFA members to Brazil and keep costs at $2,500 per student. Wauseon FFA also wanted to share the experience with two other FFA chapters outside of their county, further encouraging program diversity.

Hogging the limelight.

FFA members aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Franklin County FFA in Carnesville, Ga., proved this point in no uncertain terms when they ambitiously set out to relaunch a 17-year-old Feed Cooperative in the hopes of reducing feed costs for FFA livestock exhibitors.

The main objective was to decrease expenses for swine projects and to educate as many students as possible on the process of formulating, mixing and bagging the rations. They planned to meet once each month to make enough feed for the following month, and they offered the feed to other FFA members who were showing hogs but were not members of the co-op.

FFA members not in the co-op paid an additional two dollars per bag for the feed, and the earnings from this were set aside to pay for materials for the next meeting. Seventeen tons of feed were generated over the year, and on average, show team members saved 50 percent on the price of feed.

Bright lights, big city.

The leadership committee of the Ponchatoula FFA in Louisiana wanted to help members develop skills to further increase their personal success, so Ponchatoula FFA set out on a journey to Chicago, Ill., where they visited the Chicago High School of Agricultural Sciences.

Twelve FFA members, three alumni members and one advisor worked on securing the funds for the weeklong trip to Chicago. The FFA members visited the high school, toured Chicago, walked along the Magnificent Mile and the Chicago Pier, and visited the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

Ponchatoula FFA members participated in a day of leadership-building activities with FFA members from the Chicago High School of Agricultural Sciences, and the students learned about cultural differences as they developed close relationships while working as teammates.

A crash course in driver safety.

It’s difficult to focus on tragedy, but after many fatal car accidents in Freedom, Wis., over the years, Freedom FFA members decided to create a Mock Crash to educate the student body about the dangers of drinking and driving.

The event was held just prior to prom and graduation, so students would have the lesson fresh in their minds.

Working in cooperation with 10 local emergency response teams, the mock crash was conducted on May 5, 2009, in the parking lot at Freedom High School. More than 500 high school and community members were there to witness the “crash.”

Compassion and class.

Kindness and compassion go a long way. This much was plainly evident when Waupaca FFA in Wisconsin created an Adaptive Agriculture course to bring cognitive disability borderline/severe (CDB/S) students into a classroom setting to nurture their academic, social and personal successes.

An agriscience teacher created a class with the assistance of two CDB/S instructors, two aides and 20 Waupaca FFA members, who provided one-on-one instruction to 16 CDB/S students. A curriculum and a syllabus were developed using fourth-grade state agricultural education science and math standards. FFA members assisted students with reading, sign language and math, and 12 interactive activities were used to enhance the students’ problem-solving and sequential skills.

Pass the veggies, please.

Everybody knows that children have a soft spot for junk food. That’s why Springport FFA in Michigan created a fun program to help young students choose their food more wisely. They held a Nutrition Day Camp for students in kindergarten through fifth grade over summer break, educating them on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle through gardening and agriculture.

The event took place during 11 Tuesdays throughout the summer in the agriculture barn in Springport. Eight Springport FFA members worked as counselors for the camp, helping develop agricultural education for the participants.

Fifty elementary students attended the camp, where they learned about the food groups, how to care for a garden and more. Hands-on activities were created to engage the students, and garden snacks were served. Many of the elementary students took their projects home, sharing the information they’d learned with their families. Parents soon began asking how to make the snacks their children had eaten during camp sessions.

As the students learned important lessons about health, Springport FFA members learned to be counselors, leaders and role models for young people. They encouraged healthy living and learned more about it themselves along the way.

The Springport FFA chapter was finalist in the 2010 National Chapter Models of Innovation award program in the area of Student Development.