Neillsville FFA members with collected canned goods after their trick-or-treat event.
Every year, Neillsville FFA members in Neillsville, Wis., “trick-or-treat” for canned goods to be donated to the local food pantry. But this year looked a little different.
On Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, buildings on Main Street in a neighboring town, Loyal, Wis., went up in flames. The fire blazed all night and into the next morning, consuming multiple buildings. The fire caused the loss of apartments, the local laundromat, the Loyal Food Pantry and more.
After hearing about the loss of the Loyal Food Pantry, Neillsville FFA President Morgan Strangfeld and advisor, Carla Byrne, decided to donate collected canned goods to the neighboring town’s food pantry.
“We wanted to help out our neighboring town, but were not quite sure what we could do,” Byrne said. “We figured we would continue our tradition [of trick-or-treating], but have our community involved in giving back to our neighbors.”
Throughout the month of October, Strangfeld promoted the event in her community. On Halloween, Strangfeld and Byrne posted a live video on the chapter’s Facebook account to remind followers that FFA members would be traveling around town during trick-or-treating hours and that there would be a drop box location at the school for anyone not on the route.
The drop box location outside of Neillsville High School was filled with donations of canned goods.
The goal for this event was to cover as much ground as possible. Members also wanted to collect as many canned goods as they could. Thanks to the help of nine FFA members, this goal became a reality. After traveling around almost the entire city of Neillsville collecting canned goods, the chapter was able to completely fill a member’s car.
Neillsville FFA Reporter Shylah Walk filled her car with donations from the event.
“The community’s reaction [to this event] is always so positive,” Strangfeld said. “Everyone tried to help, no matter the amount of food they could donate.”
On Nov., 1, 2024, Neillsville FFA Reporter Shylah Walk delivered all the items to the Loyal Food Pantry. The pantry and its workers are continuing to recover from the losses of the September fire.
