FFA students from Missouri and Kansas who recently attended the Western Farm Show in Kansas City made a major contribution to the fight against hunger by collecting 5,958 canned goods and other non-perishable items in the show’s annual Border War Food Drive.

Almost 3,400 FFA students — 65 chapters from Missouri and 10 from Kansas — brought their food collections to the 2017 Western Farm Show, which was held Feb. 24-26 at the American Royal. The food items were donated to Harvesters — The Community Food Network, based in Kansas City, and are expected to provide over 3,100 meals in the regional food bank’s service area that includes northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas.

“We continue to be amazed at the generosity and commitment of the FFA chapters through this annual drive to fight hunger in our community,” says Katie Warning, Harvesters Food and Fund Drive engagement manager. “As always, we appreciate the Western Farm Show and Western Equipment Dealers Association’s support of Harvesters and the hungry in our community.”

The Border War Food Drive is a friendly competition between Missouri and Kansas FFA chapters to see which chapter can bring the greatest number of food items to the show, with a $500 prize going to the winner. For the fifth time in the past six years, the Lone Jack, Mo,. FFA turned in the top performance, collecting 3,003 items. Other top-performing Missouri chapters were from La Monte and St. Joseph. The top three Kansas FFA chapters were from Hiawatha, Louisburg and Fort Scott.

The 2017 Western Farm Show featured over 500 exhibitors and more than 400,000 square feet of floor space that showcased one of the largest indoor displays of farm equipment and other agricultural products in the Midwest. Other attractions included the Livestock Low-Stress Handling Demonstration, the Health and Safety Roundup, Family Living Center and cooking demonstrations provided by the Culinary Center of Kansas City. To learn more, visit westernfarmshow.com or Facebook at facebook.com/WesternFarmShow and follow the show on Twitter at twitter.com/WesternFarmShow.

Source: Western Farm Show