Eaton’s FFA (Future Farmers of America), has once again hosted their annual food drive with the hope to collect and donate canned goods to those in need. This Food Drive is a great opportunity for students in the Eaton School District to give back to their community by providing non-perishable food items to those who may not be able to provide meals for themselves and their loved ones. All of the food items collected during the FFA Food Drive will be donated to a list of families in need of our donations. Feeding those in need is always a good cause, but it becomes more important during the Holiday season.
The FFA food collection buckets were placed in all EHS Advising classrooms, but the emptiness in the buckets reveals the lack of student involvement. Approximately 110 non-perishable items were donated by EHS students. The FFA cause seemed to go unnoticed as the donation buckets only collected scraps of trash and dust in the high school’s classrooms. However, the other schools in the district were able to pick up the slack. With their overwhelming amount of donated goods, a total of 6,642 cans were donated to the food drive which will help feed 75 families.
When reflecting on the reason for the lack of donations from EHS students, some may be quick to blame the inflation rates and the rising cost of groceries. The inflation rate on common goods has increased over the past few years following the COVID-19 pandemic but seems to be settling back down. The rise in inflation rates and the rise of cost for grocery items has made it extremely difficult for those to purchase necessities making it even more important to donate canned goods for the community. Food Banks are struggling to keep their shelves stocked with goods for families. This means that it’s even more important to donate during a time when canned foods become harder to buy.
When asked about a possible reason for the lack of student involvement in the FFA food drive, Alex Shaw (25) said, “I don’t think the main cause of lack of participation is inflation, I think that people just don’t know about it because, to be honest, I never even knew it was going on.”
Inflation is hard to blame for the lack of participation when the rest of the school district seems to be thriving. Melissa Achziger said, “The elementary schools are rocking it. We had to send more bins over to those schools because all the class bins were overflowing.” Mrs. Achziger, an EHS Agriculture teacher, is the supervisor for the FFA club.
The elementary schools had an outstanding amount of donations to help make the FFA food drive a success. The reason for the lack of participation from EHS students could be the fact that students need to participate more and give back to the community. The annual FFA food drive can be successful in the future with proper student cooperation, and the shared goal to feed those in need. A possible first step to success is passing up the single $6.00 coffee drink, and instead using this money to purchase a few canned items to donate to the FFA Food Drive.
