“Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve.” That’s the FFA motto. The “Living to Serve” piece of that was on full display across the Greater Lafayette Community on Tuesday as FFA members from around the state participated in community service projects that included mulching at parks, helping at animal shelters, and volunteering at Food Finders Food Bank.
“FFA really taught me my work ethic in the community,” says Carter Gisler from the Forest Park FFA Chapter. He was helping sort frozen meat at Food Finders in Lafayette. “People don’t see us doing it, but we’re doing it and it’s helping kids learn to go out and get a work ethic. That’s what FFA has really taught me.”
Jack Warner, Food Finders’ Director of Operations, says having FFA members from the Forest Park, Southridge, and Hoosier Hills chapters was a huge help in getting this meat out to neighbors in need across the 16 counties they serve.
“This time of year is probably one of the hardest times for us to get volunteers. The university is out, people are going on vacation, so this is a huge help to us because this number of people are going to be able to get through pretty close to all the meat that we have presently in inventory. That will enable us to distribute it at all. Then it’ll pile back up again until we can get another big group to come in.”
You can hear more with Warner about Food Finders and their need for volunteers in the full interview below.
Gisler adds that community service isn’t just something they do at the state convention. It happens locally too.
“We also have little food pantries that we made at national convention… We have one food pantry, so it has snack foods if anybody just needs something to eat. And then we also have one with bathroom essentials like deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, that they can just come and we restock every year at school. We have competitions at school of what class can bring in the most stuff so we have our supply.”
More coverage from the Indiana FFA State Convention will happen throughout the week thanks to Co-Alliance and McDonald’s.
