FFA students traveled county roads around Cleveland on Oct. 17 for a corn drive, a fundraiser that combined generosity with agriculture.
Visiting two dozen local farmers, the group collected 1,682 bushels of corn, which, when sold, raised over $9000 for Cleveland FFA.
“It was really cool to see all the farmers donating to support our FFA chapter,” said student organizer Samantha Baker, who serves as the chapter president.
Local farmers and school board members Ryan Ponwith and Kevin McCabe, as well as farmer Jamie Baker were instrumental in planning the drive, said Kelly Susa, agriculture teacher and FFA advisor.
“We were approached by multiple local farmers about doing a corn drive and decided that this was the year to kick it off.”
Work on the corn drive began in earnest a few weeks earlier. Baker and her father Jamie collected addresses that they had when the FFA delivered doughnuts to farmers during harvest time last year.
“It can be tricky because sometimes home addresses are different than farm addresses, and for the corn drive and meal delivery, many farmers were in the field,” Susa said,
Susa and students Elijah Mons, Chloe Haack, Anna Kawatski-Klein, Carter Kern and Baker delivered the doughnuts.
“It was a “thank you, good luck, safe harvest” gesture,” said Susa.
Stage two was delivering meals in the hopes of receiving a corn donation.
The group contacted Ag Partners as a sponsor for the meals. FFA members Olivia Reinhardt, Vanessa Wondra, Emma Bluhm, Mollie Bowman, Kayla Hoffmann, Kern, Kawatski-Klein and Baker assembled the meals–ham and turkey sandwiches, chips, cookies and bottle of water–after school on Wednesday with the hope of holding the drive on Saturday, but the weather had other plans, so they went out on Tuesday instead.
Volunteers Jamie Baker and Ponwith both drove a semi around to collect the kernel donations while Susa and ag teacher Madisyn Schuster and students, Marshall Heldberg, Hoffmann, Kern, Mons, Wondra, Bluhm and Baker followed them in school vans to hand out the lunches (above).
The FFA brought its harvest to Traverse elevator the next morning.
“It was cool to see all the corn adding up,” said Samantha Baker.
The Cleveland FFA will use the money they raised to help fund things like trips to national and state conventions, including transportation, registration, hotels and meals, Susa said. It will also use the funds for other chapter expenses, like meeting activities and snacks, Career Development Event and Leadership Development Event contest registration, fees, and practice materials.
This year, the Cleveland FFA chapter also moved to an affiliated structure, meaning that no individual student has to pay dues, so it will also use the proceeds to cover regional, state and national dues for all members, Susa said.
A long-lasting tradition in Minnesota, corn drives began in Freeborn in 1953 when a raging storm swept through the community, and the Freeborn FFA Advisor gathered corn that had fallen on the ground to sell to the local grain elevator. Freeborn FFA raised $90 through the effort. They donated the money to Camp Courage.
The following school year, the FFA Executive Secretary encouraged all Minnesota FFA chapters to participate in the “Corn Drive,” an effort that is deeply connected to one of the four lines in the FFA motto: “Living to Serve.”
Today, the FFA Corn Drive has grown to include over 50 FFA chapters across the state.
FFA members Kayla Hoffmann, Emma Bluhm, Samantha Baker, Carter Kern, Marshall Heldberg and Elijah Mons helped with the corn drive.
Marshall Heldberg watches a combine unload.
Kevin McCabe, Madisyn Schuster, Marshall Heldberg, Elijah Mons, Carter Kern, Samantha Baker, Emma Bluhm, Kayla Hoffmann, Kelly Susa and Ryan Ponwith
(Photos courtesy of the FFA)