Future Farmers work to ensure all kids have a gift to open for the holidays

“...They didn’t have any heat, the kids were cold, and it was kind of heartbreaking.”

The Rappahannock County High School’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) program is celebrating the season by delivering firewood and buying holiday gifts for local families in need. Michele Fincham, RCHS agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor, said she noticed there were families in need of firewood last year when she was helping her husband, a Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Deputy, deliver gifts as part of the Shop with a Cop program. Fincham said FFA then started reaching out for donations so the students could bring firewood to local families.

“Some of the places that we had to take gifts to, I just noticed that they didn't have any heat, the kids were cold, and it was kind of heartbreaking,” Fincham said.

The project is a joint effort with the Benevolent Fund, where Executive Director Berni Olson helps connect families with Fincham. So far, students have delivered eight pickup trucks worth of firewood to five different homes to help provide heat throughout the winter season. This program has benefited both families and seniors who live on their own.

FFA members source all the wood and do the cutting themselves, Fincham said. She said the service is free, and they do not expect or accept donations from families who reach out.

“It's usually five to 10 of the same kids that do most of the work, so they're pretty dedicated to it,” Fincham said. “They don't really get anything out of it other than helping others, which is huge in itself.”

FFA President Emma Jenkins said providing firewood has been one of her favorite projects this year, and said it’s rewarding to see the hard work of finding trees, cutting them to sized logs and splitting them into firewood come together and be put to good use.

“If not for the support from parents and the community this project would not be taking off as successfully as it is,” Jenkins said. “Being able to build the foundation and set this project up for FFA members to come truly fills my heart up and it will be an experience that I will forever be grateful for."

Olson said when she started working with the Benevolent Fund three years ago, people reached out in need of firewood. She said she thought it would be beneficial for the community to have a “firewood brigade,” and she’s grateful that FFA “stepped up to meet this mission.”

“With the incredible resource of wood in our county and people who use it to heat their homes, FFA is helping meet this need and providing an invaluable service,” Olson said.

For the third year in a row, FFA is also sponsoring their Adopt-a-family program, where FFA helps streamline donations to the sheriff’s office to assist in their effort of buying gifts for children of low-income families.

Fincham said when they first started helping out in 2020, FFA sponsored eight kids. This year, FFA is sponsoring 48 kids at about $200 a child, saying they will sponsor the families that the sheriff’s office isn’t able to cover. Names of families are completely confidential, Fincham said, and FFA students help to shop and wrap the gifts.

“Our goal is that nobody goes cold, and all kids have something to open on Christmas Day,” Fincham said. “And it's our most favorite community service project that we do.”

The school program is sponsoring 48 kids at about $200 a child, up from 8 kids in 2020