Odessa FFA gets grant to help fight local hunger

The National FFA Organization has awarded the Odessa FFA chapter $2,500 as part of the FFA: Food For All program. The nationwide program provides grant money to local FFA chapters to support year-long, service-learning projects that address local hunger needs.

The Odessa FFA plans to help fight hunger by having the horticulture and landscape design students from the Vocational Agriculture Department and FFA members teach elementary students how to raise their own vegetable garden. Plans to start a school garden are in the preliminary stages. The second goal will be connecting with the Odessa Food Bank and promoting a “Plant a Row for the Hungry” project to get community members to plant an extra row in their gardens and donate fresh vegetables to the local food bank. More information will be provided during the FFA greenhouse sale to be held during the last week of April.

Students at P.C. Jantz Elmentary have already started on agricultural lessons taught by agriculture teacher Diane Baye. They have learned about different types of farmers (with many area farmers receiving thank you letters from students), how Christmas trees are grown and the benefits of red-wriggler composting worms. Germination of seeds is this month’s lesson. The elementary students will start their seeds in the high school’s greenhouse and will transplant their vegetables to the school garden when the weather cooperates.

The FFA: Food For All grants are sponsored by Donaldson Foundation, Elanco, Land O’Lakes, Nationwide Foundation, Nutra Blend, Sealed Air, Tractor Supply Company and Tyson as a special project of the National FFA Foundation. The program has provided nearly $360,000 to FFA chapters in 40 states and the Virgin Islands. In addition, the FFA: Food For All grant program is part of the National FFA Organization’s Hunger Home platform. More information about the program can be found at FFA.org/foodforall.

The National FFA Organization provides leadership, personal growth and career success training through agricultural education to 629,367 student members who belong to one of 7,757 local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.