Members of the Pontiac FFA Chapter load up one of the semitrailer trucks with hay bales.
“If they need help, we will give it to the people who need help,” says Cole Rapp, a junior at Pontiac Township High School in Illinois.
The Pontiac FFA Chapter did just that when it coordinated a hurricane relief effort for Johnson City, Tenn., called the Bales of Hope. The chapter sent three semitrailer trucks and two gooseneck trailers 594 miles away to support livestock farmers impacted by Hurricane Helene.
“I realized that we could help,” Rapp says. “I have livestock, and the need for hay was real. My family cuts hay, so if we could help, we needed to do it. If we were in their situation, we would want help as well.”
This was about more than a community service project for this chapter; it was about doing what was right to help other communities in need.
Collaboration With Normal FFA
“It was good to get involved with another chapter,” Rapp says. “It meant more hands, and more hands make work easier. With help, we can do more than what we can on our own.”
When Normal FFA first contacted Pontiac FFA about getting involved, their offer was immediately taken into consideration. Pontiac FFA advisor Jesse Faber had a contact in Tennessee, so he asked what they needed after this hurricane. The chapter wanted to make sure it sent what the people truly needed after this natural disaster.
“We would have done more, but that’s what they said they needed,” Faber says.
Community Involvement
To make this idea come to life, lots of things had to fall into place, so the chapter leaned into its connections to recruit community support. Members used many different tactics, including social media posts and phone calls, to get people to support the cause. In 10 minutes, Rapp made four phone calls and got a semitrailer truck full of hay.
Another component that contributed to the Bales of Hope project was that two additional FFA chapters gave generous monetary donations. Additionally, one group drove hay three hours south from Wisconsin. This shows how chapters in National FFA will do what they can to help each other out.
According to Pontiac FFA members, they offered a pathway for people to do good, and a lot of people exceeded their expectations. The chapter brought people together to help supply livestock farmers with hay so that their animals could survive.
The process of getting everything loaded onto the respective trucks.
