FFA service project feeds 50,000 across the state

A nationwide student organization with a nearly hundred-year agriculture-related history is actively engaged in helping to make life better here in Alaska.

“Future Farmers of America” was founded by a group of young farmers in 1928. Their mission was to prepare future generations for the challenges of feeding a growing population.

Today, the nonprofit Future Farmers of America is no longer just for students who aspire to be farmers. It is also for those interested in becoming teachers, doctors, scientists, business owners and more.

At the state level, Alaska FFA is sponsored by the state’s Division of Agriculture, where Taylor Nelson is the program coordinator.

She said the group’s broader scope helps to meet the needs of a more diversified world.

“While the organization used to stand for ‘Future Farmers of America’, it now is focused on creating a future for all through young leaders and individuals who are community-oriented, informed consumers, and have the skills they need to be successful in any career or path that they go down,” she said. The state organization consists of more than 500 students, in grades 6 through 12, who participate in individual FFA chapters at their schools. Participation includes the opportunity to be part of the annual Alaska FFA convention. A service project is part of that gathering, which was held in April in Palmer. Nelson said this year’s group was eager to tackle a service project “that would positively impact as many Alaskans as possible.”

They decided to partner with Meals of Hope to package nutrient-dense dry meals to be donated to food banks across the state. A $20,000 February grant covered the cost of food and supplies for the project, which netted 50,000 packaged meals.

“Without the Mat-Su Health Foundation we would never have been able to pull off an event of this size and range,” she said. “They made it possible for students and teachers from across the state to come together and create meals that would feed and benefit so many people.”

The nonprofit Mat-Su Health Foundation has been making this kind of investment in the community since 2008, a year after the organization became part owner of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. Since that time, Health Foundation funding of scholarships, sponsorships, and grants to individuals and nonprofit organizations across the Valley has totaled more than $138 million.

Of the 50,000 meals packaged in Palmer by FFA students attending the April state convention, 40,000 went to the Mat-Su Food Bank. The others went to Food Bank of Alaska. Both organizations have distribution networks that combine for a statewide reach.

Nelson said there was added value that went beyond helping to feed others.

“The students benefitted from the teamwork skills and the knowledge that they were doing something that would have a large impact,” she said.