More than 400 Alabama FFA students rolled up their sleeves and donned hair nets for the Rally Against Hunger June 5 during the State FFA Convention in Montgomery. Six hours of measuring and bagging food culminated with a donation of more than 7,000 bags to the Montgomery Area Food Bank, which serves 35 Alabama counties through 800 member agencies.

Each bag contains six nutritious servings of grains and vegetables, for a grand total of 42,120 meals. Alabama state FFA officers were inspired to host a state Rally Against Hunger after helping pack a million meals at the National FFA Convention in October.

“Hunger is a reality for many people throughout America,” said State FFA President Josh Williams, who is a member of the Douglas High School FFA Chapter. “Through the FFA we learn the importance of providing food for others, and we gain the leadership skills necessary to confront problems and find solutions. Today, FFA members from across the state are dedicating their time to be a part of the solution to feed the hungry.”

Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey and State Rep. Jay Love, R-Montgomery, joined FFA students on the assembly line and talked about the importance of ending hunger in Alabama.

“The FFA motto is ‘Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live and living to serve,’ and that’s what we’re doing here today,” Ivey said. “We’re going to serve together to meet an unmet need. We can make a difference right here at home in our own communities.”

Ivey said there are thousands of people in Alabama who are unsure where their next meal will come from, including 47,000 people in Montgomery.

More than 50 million Americans, including almost 17 million children, live with food insecurity, according to USDA statistics. Nearly 920,000 Alabamians are classified as “food insecure.”

The Alabama FFA Foundation and the Alabama FFA Association funded the Rally Against Hunger with resources provided by the national Kids Against Hunger organization.