When rising floodwaters threatened their community in April 2023, members of the Mercer County FFA Chapter in Illinois sprang into action.
“We got a phone call from an alumni member who lives on the western side of our county who said floodwaters were coming down the Mississippi River, and they estimated the water would exceed the levee in the next 48 hours,” says Brandon Livingston, Mercer County FFA co-advisor. “He asked if our students could come help put sandbags down before the floodwaters came.”
The next morning, about 25 Mercer County FFA members loaded a bus and headed to nearby Keithsburg, Ill., to help place sandbags along the levee. They worked for two days stacking sandbags with the Keithsburg Fire Department and community members.
“Our principal excused the kids from school for those two days,” Livingston says. “The levee was two miles long, and we were trying to cover it all. Sandbags were being filled at a local prison and being sent to us so we could constantly be moving sandbags and not have to stop and fill them.”
The first day alone, they put down 2,000 sandbags. Another 2,500 sandbags were delivered at the end of the first day in preparation for day two.
Mercer County FFA President Caleb Wagner, 16, volunteers in his community often, but this was his first experience volunteering in a crisis situation.
“It was short notice, but we had a great turnout,” Wagner says. “Some of the volunteers used a skid loader to move sandbags to the sites where they were needed, and then we carried and placed them. Helping our community is what FFA is all about, and in turn, that grows support for our chapter.”
Mercer County FFA member Ian Willits lives close to where the flooding was, so he was particularly concerned about the rising waters. He helped with sandbagging efforts.
“Thankfully, the water didn’t rise as high as it would have had to rise to break the levee, but it was only one foot away,” Willits says. “The biggest lesson I found from this experience was it’s amazing what a small town organization can do with such short notice when you have people who want to do good.”
Keithsburg is part of the Mercer County School District and is located about 20 minutes from the high school in Aledo.
“Quite a few of our members are actually from that area and knew the impact that could happen if the levee broke,” Livingston says. “The water rose high enough that we had to readjust sandbags on the second day and add more sandbags. We were lucky to have minimal flooding with what we were able to do to prepare.”
Livingston says the Mercer County FFA officer team is very committed to community involvement and has made service their No. 1 priority.
“Being able to help our community in a time of need was really what our chapter is all about,” he says.
