Kennewick FFA helps out fire-ravaged Chelan

FFA students at Kennewick High School are no strangers to the commitment that comes from raising animals for the fair each year.

So when the opportunity arose this fall to help out the FFA program in the Chelan School District, where several students lost their animals and even their homes in this summer’s wildfires, there was no question about what to do.

“We know how it is to start from scratch, building your pig pen, but to lose everything...” said junior Leticia Martinez, 16.

Nearly 50 students from Kennewick High and three other high school FFA programs recently traveled to Chelan to help rebuild homes as well as livestock pens used by Chelan FFA. The students also raised nearly $6,000 to help compensate students who lost their fair animals.

“It’s a cool project because every kid has some connection (to the area),” said Kennewick FFA instructor Dan White.

The aid effort was partly possible because White had applied and received a $2,000 grant from the national FFA organization for a research project. Before that project could start, FFA officials told White the money could be used for an environmental emergency project. White immediately thought about how the Chelan Complex fires in August had burned dozens of homes and tens of thousands of acres, including friend and fellow agriculture teacher Rod Cool.

“That was the biggest environmental emergency I could see,” White said.

When he suggested it to his students, they ran with it. It was Leticia who suggested recruiting FFA students from other schools to work with them and students from Pasco, New Horizons and Columbia high schools participated. A Pasco equipment dealer provided a tractor to use while another business provided fencing supplies and other needs at cost. Students raised money to pay for animals that died by using crowdfunding service GoFundMe.

Students took a bus Nov. 14 to the site and worked throughout the day in Chelan. They were joined by state FFA officers as well.

“There was still a lot of ash on the ground,” said sophomore Giovanni Manzo, 15. “By the end of the day, everyone looked like they worked in a coal mine.”

The students said they were just glad to help and to be of help to members of their extended FFA family.

This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Kennewick FFA helps out fire-ravaged Chelan."