The St. Thomas-St. John Seventh-day Adventist School (SDA) Trail Blazers FFA (Future Farmers of America) chapter on St. Thomas, V.I. has been awarded a Yearlong Living to Serve Grant in the amount of $3,000. The nationwide program provides grant money to local FFA chapters to support yearlong service-learning projects that address needs related to community safety, environmental responsibility, hunger, health and nutrition, and community engagement.
The St. Thomas-St. John SDA School Trail Blazers FFA plan to address two broad areas of community need community engagement, and health and nutrition. The students will address these two areas by working with selected residents of the Celestino A White Sr. Senior Citizens Residence to grow a portion of their own food.
The objectives of the project are to promote intergeneration relationships, provide the seniors with physical activity by co-building a vertical garden growing system, and planting selected vegetables and herbs in those vertical containers. Long term, the students hope to share a communal meal from the harvested produce with the residents.
The program provided over $260,000 to FFA chapters in 33 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The 2022-2023 FFA Yearlong Living to Serve Grants are sponsored by Tractor Supply Company and Cargill.
For more information and a complete listing of sponsors, visit FFA.org/livingtoserve.
The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 735,000 student members as part of 8,817 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
