FFA members and school leaders present a donation to the Women’s Hospitality House.
The idea to support and give back to the Hospitality House for Women began with Rome Middle FFA Advisor Ashley Hamby, who is a local community leader and an advocate for struggling women and children against domestic violence.
The Hospitality House provides shelter, safety and support for women and children who are survivors of domestic violence. In addition to being an emergency shelter, they offer counseling, advocacy and outreach services to help families rebuild their lives.
Turning Loose Change Into Hope
This September, Rome Middle FFA hosted the Change Challenge to encourage students and staff to donate spare change for a good cause.
Hamby, along with the local community, set a goal of $250 of loose change. FFA members wasted no time putting their creativity skills into creating “Be the Change” flyers to hang around their school and a donation jar to place their loose change in.
Rome Middle FFA members Lilyana Borromoe (left) Kieran Newby (middle) and Celeste Adair (right) holding a “Be the Change” flyer.
Members used social media and their voices to spread the word, which caught the attention of Tractor Supply Company (TSC), which partnered with the chapter. Promoting the fundraiser encouraged members to use their communication skills to speak with locals. They also sold lemonade, ice cream, and meat sticks at TSC to increase visibility; over $200 was raised.
Rome Middle FFA at Tractor Supply Company selling lemonade to support the Women’s Hospitality House.
Community Impact
By the end of September, the donation jar was emptied and counted. What began as a modest contribution goal of $250 had grown into an incredible $1,ooo thanks to everyone’s generosity.
The support and generosity funded eight sessions of therapy for two women; these sessions provide a safe space for healing, growth and the tools needed for these women to move forward with confidence and strength.
Choosing a community service project like this allows students to understand that agriculture connects us to people and the people with whom we build communities. As a result, supporting the Hospitality House was a way to show students that service means stepping up for those in need.
Overall, this project showed the true spirit of FFA—learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, and living to serve.
