These chapters took part in the 2021 National Days of Service by completing local service projects. Check out how these chapters were Living to Serve in their communities:
Hanford FFA members in Hanford, Calif., gathered nonperishable food items to donate to the Hanford Salvation Army Food Bank through a treat-or-treat-style event. The week before Halloween, members distributed bags to households across the community, asking them to fill the bags with nonperishable food donations and place them outside their door a week later for pickup.
More than 115 Hanford FFA members gathered more than 4,000 pounds of food to donate to the Salvation Army.
Highland-Craigmont FFA in Craigmont, Idaho, hosted a blood drive with the American Red Cross at the Craigmont Fire Station. FFA member volunteers welcomed donors, helped with check-in and sanitized donation stations between donors.
Three FFA members and 22 community members successfully donated blood; 25 units of blood were collected.
Houston FFA in Houston, Miss., partnered with Chickasaw County Extension to host Frankie's Fall Fun Day, an event for students with special needs in Chickasaw County. The fun-filled day included a cake walk, games such as ring toss and horseshoes, face painting, mule-pulled wagon rides and horseback riding.
Houston FFA members made more than 180 cupcakes for the cake walk, and others volunteered their time to ensure Frankie’s Fall Fun Day was successful. Adult volunteers in the community provided lunch. The day was filled with joy and laughter.
Lyman Hall FFA in Wallingford, Conn., completed a community cleanup project with the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association. Members spent hours in canoes on Hanover Pond in Meriden, Conn., clearing unwanted debris from the water.
The impact was evident. The 13 members who participated in the community cleanup event were surprised by the items they discovered in the water, including chairs, shoes and tires.
Northern Neck FFA members in Warsaw, Va., planted a native plant garden around the entrance sign of a new area of the Rappahannock River Valley Wildlife Refuge. The landscape display will serve as an educational garden for refuge visitors, provide a land lab for students and volunteers, and offer a food source for the pollinators that are essential to specialty vegetable growers in the area.
Students surveyed native plant gardens in the area, learned to identify species and determined potential use in the garden before planting. The garden project is part of an ongoing service-learning partnership with the Rappahannock River Valley Wildlife Refuge.
The Little Free Pantries project initiated at national convention inspired members of Simms FFA in Simms, Mont., to conduct the same project, and it became a group effort. As a part of the agricultural mechanics class offered at their school, members built Little Free Pantries based on the building plans shared in the National Days of Service event at national convention. Students in the Ag I class contacted locations for drop-off.
The pantries were placed in the three communities of the Sun River Valley School District and stocked with personal hygiene products, toiletries and paper products for community members in need. Simms FFA members continue to stock the pantries with essential items.
