Adoptable dogs and cats waiting for their permanent homes now have blankets to offer them warmth and comfort thanks to the efforts of the Octorara Junior-Senior High School FFA members who made 47 blankets that will be distributed to local rescue organizations.

Octorara FFA high school students received a National FFA Living to Serve grant to make the fleece no-sew tie blankets, which was a first-time community service project. "FFA is really great because they offer these mini grants, and we were able to get $400 to purchase fabric and supplies to make the blankets," explained Helena Martin Talley, FFA adviser. "It was something that was fairly easy and we could do in class."

The FFA members chose the program because they are aware of the increasing number of stray cats and dogs within the Octorara Area School District.

"I met with my FFA officers at the start of the year, and we talked about what activities we would like to do," said Talley. "This is (a project) we talked about last year and wanted to make it happen this year. When we talked about it at a chapter meeting, everyone was on board."

Octorara FFA members spent 16 hours cutting fabric and tying together the sides to make the colorful blankets, which feature dog pawprints and images of cats and dogs. The completed blankets were presented to April Brade for distribution. Brade is a volunteer with Lucky Dawg Animal Rescue and leads Parkesburg Area Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), an organization composed of volunteers who are committed to getting the stray cat population under control by utilizing the TNR method.

"Trapping these animals in Parkesburg specifically has been a tireless and rewarding effort by community members. Octorara FFA members know that animals that have been on their own for a while may be mistrusting and need a period of time for socialization with people," stated Talley. "They hoped that making these blankets would provide warmth, a soft texture to sleep on and a familiar scent that could help decrease stress for the animal during their transition off the streets, to foster homes or shelters and hopefully to a forever home."

FFA is open to students who are looking to pursue a career in the agriculture industry, including teachers, scientists and business owners. "FFA is part of the Ag Ed curriculum," explained Talley. "Ag Ed is a three circle model. One piece is the classroom, lab time and the hands-on learning; the second is FFA; and the other is the supervised agricultural experience (SAE), where students apply what they learned outside of the school."

She said that a large component of FFA is service learning: "This (project) is part of the FFA motto, which has four statements: 'learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live and living to serve.'"

Upcoming projects for the Octorara FFA include prepping seeds that will be planted in the school's raised bed garden. Produce from the garden is donated to the Octorara Area Food Cupboard. The students are also preparing for National FFA Week, which will be celebrated from Saturday, Feb. 17, to Saturday, Feb. 24.

For more information about the Octorara FFA and its activities, visit http://www.facebook.com/FFAOctorara.