Money raised to buy FFA jackets

Kathrine Alderman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Sometimes, the chance to do something for someone comes to us when we least expect it. For Sheriff Mac McNeill, it happened when he was assisting the FFA with a food drive.

The local Jefferson Somerset FFA was doing a food drive back in November, donating everything they raised to the Jefferson Senior Center. McNeill came to help assist them with their donation and ended up talking to Prevatt about the FFA program and how the club was doing. This conversation led to McNeill inquiring about the blue and gold FFA jackets, an essential item that the club needs to be able to participate in events, but also just something that is a staple of FFA and helps you show your pride in the club. As the Jefferson Somerset FFA has only recently been revived in Jefferson County, they didn't have jackets, and there was really no way they could afford them, as they were costly.

McNeill was saddened by this news. He was in FFA and knows how important it is that they have the jackets, so he decided to make some calls when he got back to his office and see if he could do his part to raise some money for the club to purchase their jackets.
It didn't take him very long at all. "Within about 30 minutes, I had raised the money," McNeill recalled. "All I did was make phone calls." McNeill called people he knew were involved in the Ag business or had been a part of FFA and got an overwhelmingly positive response.

Donors were Florida Georgia Citrus, Madison Oaks Farm, Butch and Marilyn Edwards, Ryan and Jennifer Pavlick and WW Cattle. "And there were more numbers I could have called," McNeill said. "It just shows the interest that this community has in FFA. Because this is a rural, agricultural community." McNeill mentions all the donors were extremely excited to help the kids. Nearly all of them were members of the FFA when they were in high school, so they knew how important and exciting it is to obtain the jackets and wear them. They were all very quick to help, and both McNeill and the FFA are profoundly grateful for the donations.

Even though McNeill insisted that all he did was make the phone calls, it was still those phone calls that alerted the donors to the need of the FFA, so the Jefferson Somerset FFA gave a certificate to McNeill, thanking him for his help in acquiring jackets for them.
FFA is an important program. Even if you leave high school and never do anything that has to do with agriculture, you still learn so much in the program that will help you later on in life. McNeill and all the donors know that, and that's why they took part in making sure the students at Jefferson Somerset have the best FFA experience they could have. Hopefully, from now on, they'll always be able to have jackets when they need them and be able to represent Jefferson County in FFA.