States Succeed With Supplemental Day of Service Grants
The Minnesota FFA Association used its grant funds, which were available to all states that applied and proposed an appropriate service-focused project, to serve the greater Twin Cities area.
Last year, each state was given the opportunity to apply for a noncompetitive $5,000 Supplemental State Day of Service Grant to help expand an existing State Day of Service project or to support a new service initiative aligned with the National FFA Organization’s Living to Serve framework. The Minnesota FFA Association put its grant money toward building “Kind Kits” to donate to the Greater Twin Cities United Way.

The numbers were impressive: 159 FFA members from across Minnesota participated in building the Kind Kits. Together, they packaged 833 child snack packs, 327 adult hygiene kits and 240 child craft kits for the Twin Cities metro area. Supplies were bought with National FFA Supplemental Day of Service grant funds, as well as $2,560 donated from 12 Minnesota FFA chapters.

The event was organized by the Minnesota FFA Association and United Way with additional contributions from the Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter and the Minnesota FFA state officer team. Thanks to diligent planning and the incredible effort of members, the event was a major success. Roughly 1,400 kits were assembled and ready to donate by the end of the packaging event.

Sleepy Eye FFA made especially meaningful contributions to the event. The chapter applied for an additional National FFA Day of Service Mini Grant to further fund the project. Sleepy Eye FFA members significantly contributed to the set-up, tear-down, coordination, restocking and overall logistics of the packaging event.

The kits will be donated to serve the city that hosts their state convention. “It is so great to give back to the area where we hold our state FFA convention each year,” says Minnesota FFA Association executive director Mary Hoffmann.

Through a variety of grants and scholarships, the National FFA Organization provides financial assistance to individual members, FFA chapters, advisors and now, state FFA associations. Browse all the available grants and scholarships and find one that’s right for your needs. ffa.org/participate/grants-and-scholarships/
