Grinnell FFA Creates Unique Meal Kits

Kudos to the Grinnell FFA Ag Leadership Team for knocking the Ignite the Spirit opportunity out of the park!

The FFA chapter was one of 40 student-based organizations participating in the Ignite the Spirit program offered by Iowa Select Farms and the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation.

These students coordinated the project with the counselors at five different locations and also five local churches in their community. Each was asked to identify two families who could benefit from a Christmas meal kit.

To make the pork loins even more user-friendly for the families, they had them smoked, shredded and packaged in 3-pound packages. The students used the cash from the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation to complete the meal, adding in family-sized instant mashed potatoes, sweet Hawaiian rolls, canned corn and green beans, BBQ sauce, oranges and Christmas cookies from a bakery.

The students spent a portion of their annual FFA holiday party finishing up the project by dividing into pairs, assembling the ingredients and packing the kits for each family. The kits were delivered back to the school counselors and churches to maintain confidentiality for the families.

Ignite the Spirit is an extension of the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation’s Operation Christmas Meal program and is aimed at increasing awareness of hunger locally and igniting the spirit of service by giving local student groups the tools—pork!—to help even more families during the holiday season.

As part of the program, FFA chapters and 4-H clubs also receive event kits with aprons and masks along with a check for $250 to purchase additional food for the meal.

#IgniteTheSpirit

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