Every year we honor veterans on November 11. Although one day’s worth of recognition is not enough, FFA chapters and its members take this opportunity to show their appreciation. By showing respect for our veterans, FFA members learn the importance of the veteran’s sacrifice and willingness to serve our country. Veterans Day pays tribute to the military service members who have served our beautiful nation.
FFA chapters from across the country recognize their local veterans on Veterans Day and throughout the whole month of November. Veterans Day is an excellent occasion for schools and organizations to produce a variety of meaningful programs to honor those who have served their country. When younger generations are involved in the planning and honoring of veterans on this special day, they learn to appreciate the veterans in a special way.
Check out how these FFA chapters below chose to honor their local heroes:
Grayville FFA Chapter in Illinois
In Illinois, the Grayville FFA Chapter honored their veterans by reaching out to their community. To show a small token of their appreciation, FFA members went around to local businesses and placed flags to display their pride and appreciation for the veterans.
Project coordinators Rhiannon Nesler and Kylee Roosevelt said, “We chose to honor the veterans of our community because we both have had family members who’ve served and we know that some veterans don’t have family to honor them so we wanted to give back to the community and show them how much they are appreciated.”
Ruby Mountain FFA in Nevada
Casey Bennett with the Ruby Mountain FFA Chapter said his chapter writes letters to the veterans in his town. The FFA members write over 100 letters to be distributed to the veterans at their local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). This opportunity allows them to thank their local veterans while also reminding the veterans that people, even the younger generation, appreciate their sacrifice and commitment to their country.
Benton Community FFA in Iowa
The Benton Community FFA Chapter will once again host a breakfast to honor their local veterans. FFA member Bodee Volesky said, “This year we expect to hopefully have 100 veterans in attendance. We will make around 150 meals altogether for the extra to veterans who can’t leave their home.” Last year, the FFA Chapter raised $1,600 for Benton County Veterans Affairs.
Brighton FFA Chapter in Colorado
The Brighton FFA Chapter is putting together a special honor for their local veterans. Their floral club is putting together 15 graveside arrangements to honor those veterans who gave their all while serving our country. In addition to the gravestone arrangements, the Brighton FFA Chapter is participating in the #22aday challenge.
According to the Military Veteran Project, every day 22 veterans lose their battle to post traumatic stress on American soil. That is one veteran every 65 minutes. The #22aday challenge was created to bring attention to this devastating statistic and create a movement in honor of our veterans. Participants are challenged to do 22 pushups for 22 days. The Brighton FFA Chapter is starting the challenge with their seven officers, and each officer will tag two others for the challenge — creating a domino effect of participation.
Jackson FFA Chapter in Missouri
The Jackson FFA Chapter in Jackson, Missouri invites their local veterans a Thanksgiving meal every November. At this meal, the veterans will receive signed thank you cards from the officers, a warm meal, and good conversations with the FFA members. Although the dinner was cancelled last year due to the pandemic, they expect over 30 veterans this year.
Jackson FFA member Noah Jones said, “Whenever we have our veterans dinner, I always take time to sit and talk to some of them. One of the veterans at our dinner in 2019 told me that he hasn’t seen a group of high school students be as honorable and respectful as our chapter’s members to the veterans in our community. That really stuck out to me because I’ve always heard that FFA builds strong communities, but this really taught me that we really are building a strong community, even if all we’re doing is giving a meal to a veteran and listening to their stories from their time in the military.”
These are just a few examples of the way that FFA members are honoring their local veterans. To every veteran — we thank you, we appreciate you, we owe it all to you. You have sacrificed so much in your lifetime so that we may have freedom in ours. Through their acts of recognition and honor, FFA members and the future generation appreciates your sacrifices as well.
