The second paragraph of the FFA Creed says, “I know the joys and the discomforts of agricultural life.” Members of the Erwin FFA Chapter from Tennessee recently experienced both the joys and the discomforts amid Hurricane Helene. They have leaned on each other for support though, and experienced the generosity of the FFA community.
“Our chapter was affected by the hurricane a lot. Our town was washed away,” says chapter officer Noah Canter says. “The Nolichucky River runs right through our town, so it got to record levels. Thirty feet is what they’re projecting right now. Down the road, you see businesses gone, our hospital destroyed. So it not only affects our chapter but our town as well.”
“Our school, however, has been shut down for about a month ever since that happened,” says chapter officer Emma Hummer. “And our chapter, we’ve just been affected all mentally and just trying to rebuild everything and get our chapter back up and running.”
Despite these challenges, the chapter has rallied together in an effort to “live to serve,” and help out its community. Chapter advisor Ryan Arnett says he has enjoyed watching his members unite to meet the needs of their community. “Our members have decided, ‘let’s come together, let’s do something about this, let’s serve.’ So they’ve gone and they volunteered several places, and they’ve come together as a unit, as a family, and it’s just been incredible to see.”
The chapter has volunteered and assisted in community service projects that help disaster relief efforts, including serving hot meals to people in need, clearing up debris and helping small farms that were damaged.
Not only did the students contribute to their community, they showed up to support each other. “I just feel really fortunate and really lucky to have people that talk to you and so you don’t feel alone,” says Erwin FFA Vice President Abigail Petterson.
“Our chapter has really come together through this and learned the importance of servant leadership, teamwork and just really working together to serve our community in this hard time,” Hummer says.
While the hurricane was devastating, coming to the 97th National FFA Convention & Expo has helped them find hope. “It’s hard to find joy in this hard time, but thankfully National FFA has helped make this trip possible. Paying our full way to this trip has been a really great joy,” Hummer says.
These donations were not expected, says chapter treasurer Laney Roger, but they were greatly appreciated. “Iit’s thanks to a lot of generous donations from Tractor Supply and National FFA, which was really nice of them and something I wouldn’t have expected for them to come together like that.”
Arnett believes this generosity represents how giving FFA is. “The National FFA Organization and the Tennessee FFA Foundation have come together to support our Chapter for national convention. They both have reached out to us and said, ‘How can we help your members during this time?’ So they’ve really come together and they’ve shown what FFA is all about.”
If you’d like to help FFA chapters affected by Hurricane Helene, such as the Erwin FFA, visit FFA.org/Crisis-Relief.
