The winners of the National FFA Organization’s first Earth Day Service Challenge Awards are honored with thousands of dollars in grants, in partnership with Timberland PRO.
The $7,000 Best Impact grant, awarded to the chapter that demonstrates the most powerful impact to the community, goes to the Oshkosh West FFA chapter from
Oshkosh, Wis. The $3,000 Best Civic Engagement grant, given to the chapter with the most volunteer involvement, was won by the East Bay FFA chapter in Gibsonton, Fla.
The award money can be used to launch a future civic engagement project or fulfill other chapter needs related to community engagement.
“We had many top quality service projects from around the country,” said Joe Martinez, education specialist at National FFA. “Projects submitted had to include at least 50 volunteers and take place in April, ideally on Earth Day, April 22.”
The Oshkosh West FFA chapter worked with the Oshkosh Conservation Club to turn a 30-acre parcel of land into a nature area with trail. Other cleanup projects occurred at Terrell’s Island and the Paine Art Center with the Progress Oshkosh group. The chapter also worked with the Lions Club on their adopt-a-flowerbed program and Trout Unlimited to complete a stream cleanup and water testing day.
The East Bay FFA chapter collaborated with Tampa Bay Watch, a nonprofit environmental group, to harvest and replant salt marsh grasses for an environmental restoration project. More than 280 volunteers worked for a total of 367 hours and planted 3,800 shrubs and plants along a half mile of shoreline. FFA members planted grasses at Whisky Stump Key, an island in Gibsonton located near a bird sanctuary that helps protect spoon bills, egrets, osprey and herons. After the planting the students were responsible for checking and replanting any uprooted grasses and monitoring water quality and habitat information to determine the success of the project.
Timberland PRO celebrated Earth Day 2007 by hosting more than 170 service projects worldwide with more than 10,000 volunteers serving nearly 65,000 service hours. The 2007 volunteer events focused on reforestation via a variety of activities such as planting trees, refurbishing trails and greenways and restoring native species. Earth Day 2007 produced greater results for the environment compared to last year with a 27 percent increase for trees planted and a 37 percent increase in tons of carbon saved.
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