JEFFERSON CITY – With support from the Missouri Farmers Care Foundation, fourteen Missouri FFA chapters have been awarded 2023 Drive to Feed Kids/Living to Serve mini-grants through the Missouri FFA Foundation. This is the third year the Missouri Farmers Care Foundation has provided grants for Missouri FFA chapters to fund efforts addressing local food security. 

“Missouri agriculture is honored to help equip Missouri FFA members to live out their ‘Living to Serve’ motto,” said Ashley McCarty, executive director of Missouri Farmers Care Foundation. “The commitment of Missouri Farmers Care Drive to Feed Kids partners, presented by ADM and Brownfield Ag News, equips youth to positively impact their communities. These grants can make a lasting impact in the lives of FFA members and make a brighter day for families receiving assistance.”

“Whether members are raising chickens to donate eggs and meat in a community with limited availability of protein for those facing food insecurity or filling backpacks to send home over extended school breaks with fellow students receiving free or reduced lunch at school, they are expanding an awareness of and empathy for the needs of their peers and neighbors,” said Heather Dimitt-Fletcher, Missouri FFA Foundation executive director. “The Drive to Feed Kids’ mini-grants from the Missouri Farmers Care Foundation makes all of that possible. The Missouri FFA Foundation is grateful to receive the support.”

The FFA Chapters receiving up to $250 matching grants are:  

• Cass County Career Center FFA, Harrisonville
• Carrollton Area Career Center, Carrollton
• Grandview FFA, Hillsboro
• Green Ridge FFA, Green Ridge
• Koshkonong FFA, Koskonong
• La Monte FFA, La Monte
• Mexico FFA, Mexico
• Pettis Co. R-V FFA, Hughesville
• Pilot Grove FFA, Pilot Grove
• Pleasant Hill FFA, Pleasant Hill
• Smithton FFA, Smithton
• St. James FFA, St. James
• West Platte FFA, Weston
• Winston FFA, Winston

“Developing members’ citizenship and interest in making others’ lives better is a core value of FFA,” Dimitt-Fletcher continued, “this is reflected in one line of the motto, ‘Living to Serve’. This gift from the Missouri Farmers Care Foundation funds student-developed projects that address food insecurity needs specific to their own communities. In so doing, students are using observation and research techniques to identify needs and employing problem solving skills to generate ideas to address those needs, while demonstrating leadership and perseverance to complete the projects.”

The Drive to Feed Kids/Living to Serve mini-grants are available to chapters hosting service-learning projects focused on the mission of addressing food insecurity. FFA chapters raise community level matching funds or generate in-kind contributions to support their projects.

Missouri Farmers Care Foundation’s Drive to Feed Kids and Missouri FFA join forces annually to raise resources and awareness addressing needs faced by food insecure families. This year, the Drive to Feed Kids will again pay processing for pork donations made by pig producers and exhibitors. August 15 at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia is Missouri Farmers Care Food Drive Tuesday and Missouri FFA State Day of Service when hundreds of FFA members will pack over 150,000 meals. During Governor’s, Legislators’ & Judges’ Day, state and agriculture leaders will join together to assemble meals for food insecure students and families. In 2022, the Drive to Feed Kids collaborative effort raised 2,425,185 meals for Feeding Missouri and it’s six affiliate food banks and over 1,500 partner agencies.

Missouri Farmers Care Foundation invites companies and individuals to join in the Drive to Feed Kids. Details and a giving link can be found at www.mofarmerscare.com/drive. All proceeds will be directed to Feeding Missouri network food banks who work daily to alleviate childhood hunger.