Gaylesville High School has received a grant that’ll help the growth of their FFA program.
On Monday of this week – Heidi Richards with the Coosa Valley Resource Conservation and Development Council paid a visit to the school to present a check for $3,500 to help pay for some additional costs related to the construction of a greenhouse on the campus.
Ag Teacher Curt Hendon explained that around three years ago he’d written a grant to get a greenhouse, and then after they were approved and already into the process of building the structure he was informed by state officials the project would require an 18” footer, poured concrete to reinforce with rebar and fiber in it – an added expense of about $3,000 – money that the school didn’t have. Hendon said that’s when he wrote the RC&D grant for $3,500 in hopes that it would come through and provide the funds to finish the project – and Monday, the check was delivered.
Joy Perry with the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce and Hannah Horton from Cedar Bluff High School discussed Youth Leadership Cherokee and thanked RC&D for their $2,500 grant in support of the program. Cedar Bluff Students Autumn Kiser, JoLee Walker, Chloe Snead and Jerri Grace Chandler, along with Teacher/Sponsor Brittany Hill from the “I Can – We Will”: Students Experiencing National FFA” program also expressed their gratitude for funds provided through RC&D grants, which helped make possible a number of educational field trips and other activities throughout the school year.
State Representative Ginny Shaver was one of the special guest speakers during that event:
Senator Andrew Jones was also on hand:
Background and Council Structure
The Coosa Valley RC&D Council is a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization, composed of eleven counties in east-central Alabama. These counties are Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Etowah, Randolph, St Clair, Talladega, and Tallapoosa. The Coosa Valley RC&D Council was authorized for operation in 1965 and included only 4 counties; Clay, St Clair, Calhoun, and Talladega. In 1966, 3 additional counties were added, which included Etowah, Cherokee, and Cleburne. Randolph and Chambers were added in 1971, and Coosa and Tallapoosa were added in 1973. The RC&D area serves 4,326,980 acres.