Abby FFA members selling fruits, nuts

A total of 38 FFA members were involved this past November and December in selling fruit, nuts and mixed boxes of fruit to many customers in the Abbotsford and surrounding communities.

The oranges, grapefruit and mandarin oranges sold in the came directly from Florida Indian River Groves in Vero Beach, Fla., and the peanuts were purchased from the Florida Farm Bureau marketing division located in Gainesville, Fla. The apples, grown in Washington, were delivered to the school by the Indianhead Food Service located in Eau Claire.

Selling the most fruit were Mya and Kalley Ruesch, who sold over 100 units, followed by Elena Kind, Javier Rocha and Alyssa Beran.

The sale included selling boxes of navel oranges, pink grapefruit and juice oranges, as well as 13, 20 and 40-pound boxes of red delicious, gold delicious and Braeburn apples. Also available were mixed gift boxes of oranges and grapefruit.

Nuts were also on the sale form, including chocolate-covered pecans and peanuts, mixed nuts, cashews, skinless peanuts, honey crunch and butter toffee peanuts, caramel corn with nuts, glazed mixed nuts and some nut gift packs.

The fruit sale is a major fundraising activity for members of the Abby FFA chapter. By selling fruit, students learn the skills involved in salesmanship, record-keeping, customer relations and delivery of the items sold to their customers.

The money raised is used to help finance activities for the year, including a trip to the Twin Cities on Jan. 25. Members attending from Abbotsford went shopping at the Mall of America, went to an Old Country Buffet for dinner and attended a Cinch Professional Rodeo at the Excel Energy Center. Seventeen FFA members from Marathon went with the Abbotsford students on a bus chartered from Krug’s Bus Lines in Medford.

A second fruit sale will take place during National FFA Week, with similar items being sold by FFA members. Items will be delivered to customers sometime in early March.