How hungry are you? FFA members are hungry enough to feed the world, but they will start at home. The National FFA Organization’s Feeding the World-Starting at Home hunger initiative is an educational movement dedicated to helping students understand the issues and implications of hunger.
Ten thousand FFA members are at the National FFA Convention and Expo to learn how they can feed the world starting at home by living to serve in the FFA Rally to Fight Hunger. “This event is going to send out those first ripples and it’s only the beginning of a journey. We need to share this knowledge,” says Jason Troendle, 2011-2012 National FFA Secretary. “As agriculturalists we’ve been fighting hunger… but how can we do more? How can we continue to grow our influence? Let’s get these nice hairnets on and by the end of the week, package one million meals because we’re here at the first ever Rally to Fight Hunger!”
Troendle’s excitement ripples into the assembly lines of FFA members as they make each meal with in one minute. Kids Against Hunger, a humanitarian food-aid organization, provides the packages of highly nutritious meals for families worldwide. Their goal is to provide a stable nutritional base from which recipient families can move their families from starvation to self-sufficiency.
Executive Director, Larry Moore, tells how teachers in Guatemala saw long-term benefits from the meals. “Within two weeks they noticed a difference in their kids. They were more attentive, they were learning better and they were learning faster,” says Moore. “Long term benefits are they go to school… their bodies and brains develop better and they can get better jobs.” The meals will allow kids to be educated, productive adults and have hope for the future.
FFA members know hope for the future ripples into the hope to end hunger. FFA chapters will develop sustainable hunger-relief projects in their local communities to across the world.
Lauren Schwab is a former FFA member from Somerville, Ohio. She is a 2011 graduate of Miami University with a degree in journalism and women’s studies. She is currently a graduate student in family studies and works full time on her family farm. Contact her at schwablm@muohio.edu.
Reblogged this on National FFA Organization Blog.