80 FFA chapters nationwide have created a plan for their communities in case of natural or environmental disaster. These emergency preparedness plans will now receive funding, up to $2,000, to make them a reality.
The funds were provided by the National FFA Organization’s Living to Serve: Environmental or Natural Disaster/Emergency Preparedness Grant Program. These grants are made are provided by CSX and Bayer as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.
“The grant program is a natural fit for CSX”, said John Kitchens, Corporate Citizenship Director. “Not only are we able to support these conscientious FFA students, but many of the environmental and disaster/emergency preparedness projects they contribute to in their communities align well with company priorities.”
Each winning project includes plans to invest the time of FFA members, community members and local leaders in a service-learning project that tackles issues of environmental, natural disaster or emergency preparedness nature. One awarded chapter from the LTS: Environmental Grant, Pierz FFA in Minnesota, is partnering with their local sanitation and solid waste management companies to reduce their carbon footprint. Their main focus will be to find ways to reuse or repurpose black silo bags, water bottles and tires. Some ways they will do this include: collecting used silo bags and cutting them into tarps that will be available to the public to be used as weed barriers in gardens, building greenhouses using used plastic water bottles and repurposing old tires from area farmers to be used as planters that will also be donated.
A recipient of the Natural Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Grant program is Greensburg FFA in Indiana. The chapter will be implementing a three pronged program titled, “Out of Harm’s Way.” It will focus on these areas: school building emergency preparedness, farm emergency plans and a safety program series. The safety program will be a series of short courses that will partner emergency response personnel with trained FFA members and interested students as presenters. Topics will include Water safety, ATV safety, Fire Safety, Firearm Safety, Severe Weather/Tornado Safety and Railway Safety. Each safety program will be targeted toward the specific demographic age group most prone to the accident type.
Uniting FFA members with their communities illustrates the final line of the FFA motto, “Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve.” These projects provide a meaningful way to connect real-life with the leadership and educational skills learned in school.