Greene County ranks 26th in Tennessee for child food insecurity, which means over 2,680 children do not have a reliable meal unless they are in school.
To help the community, the West Greene FFA Alumni and the West Greene FFA Chapter worked together to host a Christmas Drive Thru event in December 2022.
As a price of admission, event attendees donated canned food items. Community members enjoyed 25 displays of Christmas and holiday scenes and even took pictures with Santa.
Through the National FFA Alumni and Supporters grant program, the West Greene FFA Alumni received the Legacy Partnering Grant, funded by Tractor Supply, which helped bring the event to a larger scale.
“We still had the need for materials such as plywood so we could cut out scenes. We had paint we had to buy; there were so many things. We also needed to buy several backdrops,” West Greene FFA Advisor Robert Meadows said.
West Greene’s yearbook staff took photos of families by the holiday backdrops, which attracted more community members and increased the number of canned goods collected.
“We assemble them and then we deliver them to a couple of different venues around our area that distribute foods, like food ministries and food banks,” Meadows said.
Meadows said that the grant allowed the chapter to involve the entire school in helping the community.
“The grant, it really met that need without taking away from fundraising for other activities or opportunities for FFA members,” Meadows said.
Thanks to the Legacy Grant, West Greene FFA Alumni were able to support the student chapter for this event.
“Partnering focuses on bringing in the alumni chapter of that FFA community and supporting that student chapter. They’re helping improve not only that FFA chapter, but that community,” Alumni and Supporters Program Manager, Emma Mendez said.
Meadows said that alumni members are very involved in the community and work long hours, so finding time to seek out fundraising for the chapter is a challenge.
“This grant allows our alumni to support the active chapter with very little time commitment,” he said.
At this year’s event, West Greene FFA collected nearly 900 pounds of canned goods.
“I know we fill out the reports and we report on how it’s done and there’s data to support that. But the real data that is not being recorded is it’s teaching our students to become involved, to always think about ‘How can we give back? How can we serve our community?’” Meadows said.
National FFA Alumni and Supporters grant deadlines are March 1, June 1, and Sept. 1. Alumni and supporters chapters can learn more and apply here: FFA.org/alumni-and-supporters/chapter-opportunities/.
Legacy Grants, supported by Tractor Supply Company, can be used to create an FFA Alumni and Supporters Chapter, improve the quality of existing FFA Alumni and Supporters Chapters or to provide more opportunities for partnership between FFA Chapters and Alumni and Supporters Chapters. The three types of Legacy Grants are Creating, Improving and Partnering.
