A Nebraska business owner and former FFA member has established a major endowment fund to support the development of current and future FFA members .
Through exercise of a revokable trust , the Ron Grapes Family Broadening Agriculture Experience Fund will provide grants thatFFA memberscan expend to successfully complete their required supervised agricultural experience .
All FFA member are require to complete asupervised agricultural experience , a project they conceptualize with the help of their teacher that call for members either possess and operating an agriculture - base business organization , getting an agriculture - based job or internship , or provision and conducting an agriculture - related scientific experiment . This learn - by - doing task gives FFA members priceless experience as they progress through their educational careers .
Grapes ’ endowment marks the first time in the FFA ’s 85 - year chronicle that an endowment has been established specifically supporting the organization ’s supervised - agrarian - experience program .
Nebraska FFA members are first in line to receive financial aid through the new store , according to specifics of the endowment . bookman with the least agrarian background and scholarly person live in urban communities are next , followed by students with an involvement in output factory farm . The endowment must be fully fund and earn income for a full 12 months before the first scholarship is awarded .
As a adolescent , Grapes served as his FFA chapter ’s vice President of the United States , competed in his state ’s FFA core - estimate competition and attended Nebraska ’s state FFA convention . Today , he ’s main possessor of Grapes Family farm in Big Springs , Neb.
“ With this gift , I wanted to assist allow for an cultivate part for the succeeding national and orbicular discussions of agriculture , ” grape enjoin .
Grapes said his decisiveness to support the FFA was well-situated because he in person knows the impact the FFA can have on a young person ’s life .
“ I need others to experience how easy it was to trance my dream for helping steer the spirit of new people , ” he says . “ This endowment will forever fund dreams of students for generations — and I did it all through my estate . ”
The National FFA Foundation is the fundraising arm of the National FFA Organization , which provides leading , personal - ontogeny and career - achiever preparation through agricultural education to 540,379 student members in grades seven through 12 who go to one of 7,489 local FFA chapter throughout the U.S. , Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands .
