Bourbon County FFA members after a successful evening of Christmas Angel shopping.
“Living to Serve” is the last line in the FFA motto, and the Bourbon County FFA Chapter lives to serve those in need every Christmas by participating in the school district’s Christmas Angel program. Every year, the Bourbon County Schools creates a list of students within the school district whose families may struggle to provide gifts to their children. Then, people and businesses can adopt a child where they receive a list of needs and wants. The Bourbon County FFA Chapter usually adopts around five to seven angels every year.
The chapter gets the funds to fill these wishes from donations made by students and their family members. To spread awareness about the event, officers and advisors will remind students daily and sometimes even host small competitions among the students and different classes to help get more students involved. These reminders and competitions help students become excited to be involved with the Christmas Angel program. From spare change to large bills, students do whatever they can to help their agriculture class raise the most money.
The chapter will also take donation jars to local businesses and collect donations from supportive community members. The chapter also offers pictures with Santa or even the Grinch at the local FFA Alumni Vendor Fair, where donations for the Christmas Angel goal are taken rather than a fee. In years past, the donation goal was surpassed so far that the chapter was able to adopt more angels than what was originally planned, exhibiting the phrase “living to serve” in the real world.
Bourbon County FFA members shop for their school district’s Christmas Angel program.
After all the necessary funds are acquired, then comes the fun part — which is shopping. Chapter members choose a day to meet at the local Walmart to fulfill the children’s wishes. The list is provided by the school and usually includes the child’s age, clothing and shoe sizes, favorite colors, and what they want for Christmas. The goal when shopping is to build an outfit consisting of season-appropriate pants, shirt, shoes and a winter jacket. Members enjoy the challenge of trying to build an outfit that the child will love.
Bourbon County FFA gives back to the community by raising money to buy clothing and toys for the Christmas Angel program.
Once the outfit is secured, then it’s on to shopping for the fun item. From baby dolls and Hot Wheels to makeup and art supplies, every child has a unique gift that they want to receive for Christmas. With their remaining budget, the FFA members will work with their shopping group to figure out how to give the child what they asked for and then some. Each group has to make sure they budget wisely so they do not spend more than they collected. Once all of the lists have been fulfilled, students now head to checkout where they enjoy comparing hauls and learning a little about every child that the chapter adopted. Once the gifts are all purchased, they are bagged up and sent to the designated drop-off location where they will then be distributed and eventually make a child’s day on Christmas.
The goal of this project is to help the members of the Bourbon County FFA Chapter take a step back and refocus on the giving spirit of the holiday season. One of the foundational ideas of FFA is serving the community around you. By participating in this project members get hands-on experience serving those around them, which will not only have a positive impact on them for years to come but also the people that they helped as well.
