Hunger Outbreak Response Team Gives Mission to FFA Members

By Lauren Schwab

Chances are you know someone who is food insecure.

It could be a relative, a friend or a neighbor. One in seven Americans won’t get enough food today or some other day this year. Survival depends on you! FFA members can visit the Hunger Rally Point in the 87^th National FFA Expo to learn how their chapter can be a Hunger Outbreak Response Team.

FFA members must complete the tasks and gather essential hunger information as instructed in the convention guide book. When their mission is complete they check in with a response team member at the Hunger Rally Point expo booth to claim their prize and be entered to win a personalized Carhartt Jacket.

The expo booth showcases different hunger activities FFA chapters are doing across the country. The National FFA Organization has goals for chapters to donate 2.5 million meals to communities in 2015. FFA: Food For All grants support chapters in feeding the world starting at home through year-long service-learning projects that address hunger.

FFA members can visit the interactive booth and get project ideas from what other chapters did last year. FFA members can write down their own ideas for service projects on a stake and place it in the “Idea Garden” so they are thinking and writing about what they could do at home and provide ideas to other chapters. “It’s all about FFA members taking the information home and planting service projects in their communities,” said Stefonie Sebastain, education specialist for the National FFA Organization.

FFA member, Jordan Wilson, visited the Hunger Rally Point with fellow members of the East Rutherford FFA Chapter in North Carolina. “I learned a lot about the impact hunger has in our country. I did not realize how many people were suffering from hunger and I think it’s great how many meals have been donated so far,” Wilson said. She and the other members spent time brain storming service project ideas to solve hunger in their home town. “Our home chapter could do a service project by donating our time at a local food shelter. There is a shelter in our town called Grace of God Rescue Mission we could all volunteer at,” Wilson said.

FFA chapters may apply for up to $2,500 to support year-long service-learning projects that address local hunger needs. Service-learning is a method of teaching and learning that challenges students to research, develop and implement solutions to identified needs in their school or community.

For more information about the Hunger Outbreak Response Team visit www.ffa.org/hunger.  For information on applying for 2015 FFA: Food For All grants visit www.ffa.org/foodforall.