812-Lancastcr Fanning, Saturday, October 4,1986
Fund-raiser Finds Niche in FFA Foundation
BY SUZANNE KEENE
PAOLI As a teenager growing
up on a Florida farm, Mary Jo
Cancelmo envied her male
classmates who were able to join
the Future Farmers of America.
“I always wanted to be in FFA,
but when I was in high school, FFA
was only for boys,” she recalls.
‘‘The girls had the option of
belonging to the Future
Homemakers of America,” she
said, noting that it was an option
she enthusiastically selected. She
served as a state FHA officer and
worked with the state FFA
president to develop leadership
training sessions.
But although she was able to rub
shoulders with FFA, “I was never
able to be really involved in it,”
she says.
Now that she is an adult and
heads the fundraising division of a.
cancelmo co. in Paoli, Mary Jo has
finally found a way to “belong” to
FFA.
Mary Jo is chairman of the
sponsoring committee of the FFA
Foundation, Inc., the official FFA
fundraising body for Penn
sylvania.
One business day of each week,
Mary Jo pounds the pavement for
FFA, calling on businesses to
solicit funds for an organization
she believes in.
“Wednesdays are my Foun
dation days,” Mary Jo says. On
Wednesdays, she visits businesses
that may be interested in helping
fund FFA. Last year, the com
mittee raised about $12,000. This
year, she would like to raise that
figure to $25,000. And, she adds
with characteristic optimisim, “I
think that’s on the pessimisstic
side.”
“It’s new. It’s a baby. It’s just
getting off the ground,” Mary Jo
says of the Foundation.
When the Foundation began in
1983 its organizers started from the
ground floor. “We started from
nothing,” Mary Jo remembers.
She began by making a list of ag
related businesses to visit and is
now working on making personal
contact within each of those
companies.
After the initial meeting, Mary
Jo hopes the companies will decide
to renew their contributions each
year. She would like to see state
officers visit contributing
businesses to offer a personal
thank you.
Some of the contributions are in
dollars and others are “in kind,”
Mary Jo explained. An example of
an “in kind” donation is a printing
company that donates printing for
programs or brochures.
Monies raised through the
Foundation are used to fund
awards, contests, scholarships,
Grassland FFA members Jim Shirk and Tammy Martin take a closer look at a jug of
Pennsylvania maple syrup displayed by Mary Jo Cancelmo. As head of the fundraising
division of a. cancelmo co. and chairman of the sponsoring committee of the FFA
Foundation, Inc., Mary Jo encourages FFA'ers to choose Pennsylvania products for their
Mary Jo Cancelmo suggests FFA'ers consider Pennsylvania
maple syrup as a fundraising possibility. A number of
chapters will be selling the syrup in jugs bearing the national
FFA emblem and the Pennsylvania ag product insignia.
judging teams and leadership
activities. Businesses can con
tribute to a general fund, or can
specify where they want their
dollars to go.
In the future, Mary Jo would like
to see the Foundation pick up some
of the expenses FFA’ers now bear
themselves, including state of
ficers’ jackets and handbooks.
Another of the Foundation’s
goals, Mary Jo said, is to offer
scholarship money to state officers
who take a year off of college to
fulfill their officer duties.
“It’s the hope of the foundation
that someday we’ll have enough
money to offer these state officers
some kind of scholarship for that
year they took off,” she said.
As a businesswoman Mary Jo
believes she is an effective agent
for FFA. When people see a
business person taking time out
from her own busy schedule for
FFA, they may take a harder look
at the organization’s merit, she
said.
While she is visiting on behalf of
FFA, Mary Jo takes the op
portunity to talk about Penn
sylvania products, another of her
special crusades.
When she called on Tastee
Baking Company for a donation,
she asked how many of the
ingredients used in their products
are Pennsylvania grown. The
company representative admitted
he did not know the answer but
said, “We’re going to make a
conscious effort to get the bulk of
our products from Pennsylvania,”
Mary Jo related.
“It’s fun to talk about it and
make them aware of it,” she said.
For now Mary Jo works alone,
but she hopes to develop a network
of volunteers across the state to
join her fundraising efforts. “I
would like to have a layperson in
every county,” she said.
While she seeks donations from
businesses, she believes funds
should come from grassroots
contributions too. “I don’t think we
should rely totally on big business
for our funds,” Mary Jo says with
conviction.
A specialist in fundraising, Mary
Jo helps individual chapters find
ways to make money while lear
ning valuable marketing skills. As
part of her business, she visits
chapters to suggest products they
could sell as fundraisers. One of
her newest suggestions is Penn
sylvania maple syrup bottled in
plastic jugs bearing the national
FFA emblem and the Penn
sylvania ag product insignia.
(Turn to Pageßl6)
See your nearest
f\EW HOLLAIND
Dealer for Dependable
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Annville, PA
BHM Farm
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RD 1
717-867-2211
Beavertown, PA
B&R Farm
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RD 1, Box 217 A
717-658-7024
Belleville. PA
IvanJ Zook
Farm Equipment
Belleville, Pa
717-935-2948
Canton, PA
Hess Farm Equipment
717-673-5143
Carlisle, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
35 East Willow Street
717 243-2686
Chambersburg, PA
Clugston
Implement, Inc
RD 1
717 263 4103
Davidsburg, PA
George N Gross, Inc
R D 2, Dover, PA
717-292 1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment, Inc
Rt 283 . Rheem's Exit
717-367 1319
Everett. PA
C Paul Ford & Son
RD 1
814-652 2051
Gettysburg, PA
Yinglmg Implements
RD 9
717 359 4848
Greencastle, PA
Meyers
Implement's Inc
400 N Antrim Way
P 0 Box 97
717 597 2176
Halifax, PA
Sweigard Bros
R D 3, Box 13
717-896-3414
Hamburg. PA
Shartlesville
Farm Service
RD 1, Box 1392
215-488 1025
Hanover, PA
Sheets Brothers Inc
1061 Carlisle St
Hanover PA 17331
717 632 3660
Honey Brook, PA
Dependable Motor Co
East Mam Street
215 273 3131
215 273 3737
Honey Grove, PA
Norman D Clark
& Son,lnc
Honey Grove PA
717 734 3682
Hughesville, PA
Farnsworth Farm
Supplies Inc
103 Cemetery Street
717 584 2106
Lancaster, PA
L H Brubaker Inc
350 Strasburg Pike
717 397 5179
Lebanon, PA
Keller Bros
Tractor Co
RD 7, Box 405
717-949-6501
Lititz, PA
Roy A Brubaker
700 Woodcrest Av
717-626 7766
Loysville, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
Lynnport, PA
Kermit K Kistler, Inc
Lynnport, PA
215-298-2011
Mill Hall, PA
Paul A Dotterer
RD 1
717 726-3471
New Holland. PA
ABC Groff, Inc
110 South Railroad
717 354-4191
New Park, PA
M&R Equipment Inc
P 0 Box 16
717-993-2511
Oley, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
RD 2
215 987 6257
Pitman, PA
Marlin W Schreffler
Pitman, PA
717-648-1120
Quakertown, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
RD 1
215 536 1935
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C E Wiley & Son, Inc
101 South Lime Street
717 786 2895
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Rmgtown Farm
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Rmgtown, PA
717-889-3184
Tamaqua, PA
Charles S Snyder Inc
R D 3
717 386 5954
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SG Lewis & Son Inc
R D 2 Box 66
215-869 2214
Churchville, MD
Walter G Coale Inc
2849 53
Churchville Rd
301 734 7722
Frederick, MD
New Holland, Inc
Rt 26 East
301-662 4197
Outside MD 800 331
9122
Westminster, MD
New Holland Inc
1201 New Windsor Rd
301 857 0711
Outside MD 800 331
9122
Washington, NJ
Frank Rymon & Sons
201 689 1464
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609 769 0308