Posted: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 4:05 PM
The Community School Chef Rene accepts garlic, tomatoes and peppers from FFA members Delaney Golden and Olivia Parsons. Produce from the garden is used in The Community School Cafe'. Developing a habit of eating healthy foods is empathized in our school cafeteria since our Chef prepares food from scratch and not out of a cardboard box.
The Community School FFA chosen for LTS: Environmental Grant from National FFA Organization
Nationwide grant program supports local chapter to engage in service-learning project
INDIANAPOLIS -- A local FFA chapter has developed a plan to tackle an environmental issue in the community, and now it's FFA members have received a national grant to bring their ideas to life.
The Community School FFA in Spokane, WA received a $2000 grant from the National FFA Organization's Living to Serve: Environmental Grant program and will begin their yearlong environmental project when the school year resumes. The Living to Serve: Environmental Grants are provided through funding from CSX, as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.
The Community School FFA titled their project “The E.R.S. project “,(Educate to Recycle for Sustainability). We are collaborating with our schools “Green Team” and cooperating with their efforts in their recycling efforts to educate students about the benefits of recycling to enhance the recycling program that we have already. Yet we plan to take it a step further and use food scraps from our cafeteria and start a worm composting program. The fertilizer from the worms will be used to sustain the vegetables that are grown our school garden. We in turn use the food that we grow in our school cafeteria and donate to 2nd harvest Food Bank. Our FFA Agricultural Issue Team will be going out into the community and giving informational presentations to talk about our E.R.S. Project.
The National FFA Organization makes grant funds available for FFA chapters to develop service-learning projects that impact environmental issues in their community. Chapters may apply for up to $2,000 to support yearlong service-learning projects focused on developing and implementing projects that address local environmental needs. The service-learning method challenged members to identify research, develop and implement solutions to needs within their school or community.
These projects illustrate the final line of the FFA motto ("Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve") by encouraging FFA members to unite in service within their communities. The LTS: Environmental Grants take community service one step further to service-learning, which provides a meaningful way to apply leadership and education skills learned in school and FFA.
About CSX
CSX Corporation, based in Jacksonville, Fla., is one of the nation's leading transportation companies, providing rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services. The company's transportation network spans approximately 21,000 miles, with service to 23 eastern states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces. CSX's network connects more than 240 short line railroads and more than 70 ocean, river and lake ports. More information about CSX Corporation and its subsidiaries is available at www.csx.com/">">www.csx.com/">www.csx.com. Like us on Facebook (facebook.com/OfficalCSX">">facebook.com/OfficalCSX">http://facebook.com/OfficalCSX) and follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/CSX">">twitter.com/CSX">http://twitter.com/CSX).
About National FFA Organization
The National FFA Organization, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national youth organization of 540,379 student members as part of 7,489 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. The National FFA Organization operates under a federal charter granted by the 81st United States Congress and it is an integral part of public instruction in agriculture. The U.S. Department of Education provides leadership and helps set direction for FFA as a service to state and local agricultural education programs. For more, visit the National FFA Organization online (www.ffa.org/">">www.ffa.org/">http://www.ffa.org), on Facebook (facebook.com/nationalffa">">facebook.com/nationalffa">http://facebook.com/nationalffa), on Twitter (twitter.com/nationalffa">">twitter.com/nationalffa">http://twitter.com/nationalffa) and FFA Nation (ffanation.ffa.org/">">ffanation.ffa.org/">http://ffanation.ffa.org).