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The FFA Banquet

May 5th, 2014 at 02:43 pm

We went to my home-town FFA banquet yesterday afternoon - DW, DD1, DS1, and me. My folks had DD2 and DS2.

When I was in high school, there was no FFA. The agriculture teacher retired my freshman year, and the FFA chapter was on its last leg by then, and when the agriculture teacher retired, he was not replaced.

DW, on the other hand was very active in FFA, and she held a state office her freshman year of college.

The local chapter started up again three years ago. Both DW and I have been supportive of their activities. In fact, we were awarded a certificate of appreciation at the banquet yesterday.

DD1 will be in 7th grade next year. That's old enough to be an FFA member. Although our local chapter doesn't yet have 7th graders involved, only grades 9-12. But DW has talked with the chapter adviser, and she (and several of the active members) have begun a recruiting effort, and next year there will be a Jr. High chapter. So, DD1 will be an inaugural member of the local FFA Jr. chapter.

Yesterday's banquet was an opportunity for the chapter to thank (and feed) supporters and parents, award member achievement, announce new chapter officers, and raise funds. The funds are used to send student members to state and national conventions, contests throughout the school year, and other chapter activities, like the annual banquet.

DW and I contributed to the fund raising activities. We bid on three items in the silent auction - and we won two of them. One of the items we won was a chicken waterer, which we needed anyway. The value of the waterer is about $35, and we got it for $30. We also won a grilling utensil kit for $30, but honestly we had hoped that someone would out-bid us on that. That may be my dad's Father's Day gift.

There was also a live auction, including a labor auction. For the labor auction, students - in groups of two or three - offer themselves to bidders for four hours of labor.

We were interested in some laborers to help us build some fencing for DD1's herd of goats.

The three biggest, strongest boys in the chapter put themselves together as one "labor package". We also know one of the boys. He is a senior, he is from a farm, and he knows how to build fence. We bid on, and won their labor for $300.

Now all we need to do is buy the fencing materials, plan out the fencing, probably rent a post hole digger, and arrange a suitable time.

It's nice to be able to support a worthy cause that we believe in. Heck, we were going to have to pay someone to help us put up the fencing. No, we probably wouldn't have spent $25/hr. But, again, it was a worthy cause that we believe in.

I also figure that DD1 will be in the chapter next year, and at least part of those funds will go toward her activities.

2 Responses to “The FFA Banquet”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1399298047

    Sounds like money well spent! A little help and education for those boys doing the labor.

  2. mimipaula1 Says:
    1399326979

    The ag department/FFA was held in very high esteem in the small farming community where I was raised. One of the reasons was that the ag kids and their instructors were always first on the scene when help was needed. What a blessing they were, as they learned to share their skills/talents with the community!

    Thank you for supporting agriculture and ag-related studies in your local community. Keep up the good work!

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