Vale FFA chapter member Trevor Bates, right, helps a customer bag up a dozen ears of sweet corn on Thursday, July 22. (AUSTIN JOHNSON/The Enterprise)
The FFA Vale chapter held a two-day fundraiser outside of Perk Beverage Company in Vale last week, selling sweet corn chapter members planted earlier this year.
Anna-Marie Chamberlain, the agricultural education instructor and FFA adviser at Vale High School, said this was “great fundraiser for their program and for the kids involved.”
The fundraiser on Tuesday, July 20, and Thursday, July 22, sold over 250 dozen ears of corn and brought in over $1,100, according to Chamberlain. Half of the earnings will be used to cover travel expenses for upcoming FFA competitions. The other half will be paid as wages to FFA members who picked and sold the corn.
The Vale FFA offers the students involved a lot more to than a little money in their pockets, according to Tanner Steele, Vale High School student and chapter vice president. They learn about everything from the science of seed and the agricultural process to public speaking and how to prepare a resume for a job interview.
“We learn and develop of a lot of skills that you can use later on in life, skills that go beyond farming,” Steele said.
The corn seed was donated by the Luke Keller via the Simplot Food Company and local farmer Don Norton set aside an area large enough for six rows of corn.
It was Norton’s grandson, Kaden Norton, who thought up the idea for the corn project three years ago. Though Kaden graduated from Vale High School this year, Norton plans to stay involved with the local chapter.
“I enjoy visiting with the kids and giving them a hard time while they are picking the corn,” Norton said.
A Vale FFA chapter member creates a sign for their fundraiser on Thursday, July 22. (AUSTIN JOHNSON/The Enterprise)
Vale FFA chapter Vice President Tanner Steele, right, looks over the sales numbers with his fellow chapter members on Tuesday, July 20. (AUSTIN JOHNSON/The Enterprise)
The Vale FFA chapter’s fundraiser stand outside of Perk Beverage Company in downtown Vale on Thursday, July 22. (AUSTIN JOHNSON/The Enterprise)
News tip? Contact multimedia journalist Austin Johnson: [email protected] or (541) 784-7151
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