When a Community Comes Together

By Taleen HannaPublished On: April 12th, 20240.3 min readCategories: Chapter Focus, FFA New Horizons, The FeedTags: annual benefit, community outreach, norwayne ffa, Ohio FFA

Norwayne FFA hosts an annual fall benefit event involving its entire Ohio community and supporting a worthy recipient. Chapter officers and members seek out sponsorships and secure items for live and silent auctions, while parents and supporters dedicate time to preparing a meal. Read on to learn about the chapter’s record-breaking event held in 2023.

A Storied History

Community-Focused Celebration

The annual fall benefit began in 2009. Throughout its 14-year history, Norwayne FFA has raised more than $400,000 to support its Creston, Ohio, community members.

“We don’t do this for our own gratification; it’s something we really want to do,” says Bella Nardecchia, Norwayne FFA Chapter secretary. “We’re really excited to say ‘thank you’ to all these community members who’ve done [so much] for us throughout the years.”

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Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Although the Norwayne FFA Chapter officer team plans most of the event, all members volunteer for shifts at each station throughout the dinner. This might include helping prepare and serve food or working the live and silent auctions. All items served as part of the meal are also donated by members and/or their parents.

“I was in the kitchen at the beginning, and the line was never-ending,” says Morgan Wiles, Norwayne FFA Chapter president. “It’s exciting to see just how many people were there because we weren’t expecting it to be such a hit.”

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Multiple Ways to Donate

Norwayne FFA decided to introduce a new aspect to the event in 2023: sponsorships. “A lot of businesses in our area like to donate items and baskets for the live and silent auction, but some prefer to donate money,” says Zavier Wenninger, Norwayne FFA Chapter sentinel.

To meet this need, members invited businesses to donate and raised $20,000 before the event started.

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Putting People First

Since the beginning, chapter members have selected an individual each year to receive proceeds raised through the event. “We listen [to our community] and identify who has one of the greatest needs,” says Ashley Stands, Norwayne FFA Chapter treasurer.

When the officer team began planning for the 2023 event, they received an overwhelming number of recommendations to select Jeff Beery (back center), a community member battling stage four colorectal cancer, and his family as that year’s recipient.

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A Record-Breaking Year

Leading up to the 2023 event, Norwayne FFA set a goal to raise $40,000. Members exceeded this amount, raising more than $80,000 for the Beery family — a new record.

Normally, the chapter calls the selected recipient(s) the next day to share the final amount raised. However, members decided to break the news early and called the Beerys the night of the event. “The next day, we also filmed and posted a Facebook Live video to reveal the final amount, which was pretty cool,” adds Kya Csapo, Norwayne FFA Chapter vice president.

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