SEDALIA, Mo. (KY3) -Missouri agriculture students are spending the last few days of their summer vacation working to feed hungry children.
Hundreds of Future Farmers of America students are at the Missouri State Fair packing meals for hungry Missourians as part of the Drive to Feed Kids, an effort that set a goal of 250,000 meals this year in honor of America 250. Students are in Sedalia Monday and Tuesday to pack the meals.
As part of the food drive, anyone attending the fair Tuesday can get free admission with the donation of two non-perishable food items.
Missouri’s FFA is teaming up with Missouri Farmers Care for the effort. Missouri FFA State President Ellie Samek said feeding the hungry is a core tenet of what it means to be a farmer.
“Agriculture is the backbone of the American economy, and any opportunity we have as members of the FFA or as residents of Missouri to give back or just to continue serving our next generation is going to be what pushes us into the future,” Samek said.
According to Feeding America, a nonprofit group of 200 food banks, 1 in 6 Missouri children don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Gov. Mike Kehoe reiterated this fact when he joined students in the packing efforts.
“The need for food and hunger is unfortunately real in Missouri,” Kehoe said. “What you’re doing today makes an unbelievable impact on thousands and thousands and thousands of Missourians.”
Data from Feeding America shows food insecurity is increasing in Missouri due to the rising cost of living, with rural areas more vulnerable. Missouri FFA State Secretary Madeline O’Brien said bringing local students into the effort helps rural areas.
“In bringing those same people who live in those areas to help those areas, I think that’s a really cool way to go about it,” O’Brien said. “I also think this is an opportunity for those areas to get a little more help than they would normally receive.”
FFA students aren’t the only group at the state fair feeding the hungry. Missouri’s 4-H clubs also host a food drive, feeding 250,000 Missourians this year. Their efforts focus on rural areas, where food insecurity is the worst. Alyse Laporte, with 4-H Pettis County, said the rural clubs are feeding their neighbors.
“These are rural clubs, so they are feeding their neighbors, and some kids are donating and then receiving that back, and I think that’s beautiful,” Laporte said.
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