Viroqua FFA Alumni gives back to community

Wisconsin State Farmer

Viroqua

From left: Myron Hornby, Aleda Primmer, Bernie Hornby, FFA Alumni members, FFA Vice-President Casey Leer, FFA President Jansen McClelland and Viroqua FFA Alumni President Carl Zube presenting the alumni’s cash donation to Jansen McClelland.

—: The Viroqua FFA Alumni is not only the “booster” club for the Viroqua’s agriculture education/FFA program, it’s also a booster to their community thanks to its annual fundraisers — the Viroqua FFA Alumni raffle and the Tasty Sandwich fundraiser.  

In supporting Viroqua High School’s agriculture education and FFA program, the Viroqua FFA Alumni recently made a generous donation to help cover the costs of new FFA T-shirts, FFA jackets and a tractor restoration which will be part of a future FFA chapter fundraiser for the organizations 81 members, the school’s largest student organization. 
 
In boosting its community support, the alumni recently launched a new program called “Hawk Packs” which are kid friendly, shelf stable and protein rich food items for designated Viroqua students pre-K-4th who may be experiencing weekend hunger.

Feeding our hawks is the focus of the program and each pack shown above includes a drawstring cinch sack backpack filled with two shelf-stable milks, two 100 percent fruit juice boxes, a pudding pack, apple sauce, two beef sticks, a granola bar, a small box of cereal, an instant oatmeal pack, a bag of crackers and a pack of trail mix.  

The packs were created with the goal of being child-friendly and are sent home weekly.  Apart from the microwavable instant oatmeal, the food items require no adult preparation.  

The Viroqua FFA Chapter recently held a peanut butter drive at the high school receiving enough donations to send home peanut butter over the longer holiday breaks like Christmas and Easter.  
 
Whether your family lives on a farm, in the country or in town your life is directly impacted by agriculture.  We know that without people to grow/raise the food that we eat, we would cease to exist.  

Students in agriculture education are learning how they are impacted by agriculture and how they too could use their skills to impact their community and the world.  There are countless career opportunities in agriculture as the industry prepares to feed our population growth of 2 billion people expected in the next 30 years.
 
The Viroqua FFA Alumni is open to any individual interested in supporting agriculture education and FFA.  For more information, contact viroquaffaalumni@gmail.com.