For the past three years, Almond Leadership participants have set aside their work obligations to visit children at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera. During their visits, participants create “almond art” with the young patients, which vary from self-portraits to landscape art, even the occasional paper airplane.
This year, Leadership participants were joined by various officers from California Future Farmers of America (FFA), many of whom hit “pause” on their spring breaks to spend time with the hospitalized youth. “I am a firm believer that people need people. I wanted to give up my spring break to come here today so that I could try and make an impact on kids, though I truly believe they were the ones who made an impact on me,” said Morgan Sparo, FFA officer at Central Valley Christian High School in Visalia.
The FFA students also enjoyed the opportunity to network with Leadership participants from throughout the state, and they made quite an impression upon the participants, as well.
“I was highly impressed with the FFA leadership team that spent the day with us. It was an honor spending the day with the leaders of tomorrow, and their professionalism and excitement is something to be admired,” said participant Lucas Schmidt.
Check out some of our best pictures from the day!
"The first child I worked with today was a young lady. She had the best imagination. It was cool to see the colors she implemented in her artwork. I liked to see the pieces of work the kids created and the smiles they went home with,” said Arthur Cuevas, President of the West Madera FFA chapter.
The young patients quickly embraced the concept of “almond art,” creating everything from almond flowers to almond bunnies.
“I was lucky enough to spend time with a set of sisters, and Kristina, Purnima and I colored and drew pictures with them. It wasn’t until one of the sisters mentioned she likes to sing, though, that the real fun happened. We sang all the classic Disney songs together while we colored and drew pictures. Best experience ever, and the girls’ mother couldn’t convince them to leave — they were having too much fun!” said Leadership participant Falastine Munoz.
Leadership participants challenged one excited young patient to a paper airplane-flying contest, and each competitor rushed to improve their planes before each flight.
Since its inception, the Almond Leadership participants have raised over $100,000 for California FFA. This year’s class looks to raise more than any class before, and the visit to Valley Children’s Hospital is just one more example of the Leadership program’s dedication not only to local communities but also to the future of California ag.
“The annual trip to the Valley Children’s Hospital is just one example of how this Leadership class continues to exceed expectations and seek to serve others,” said Jenny Nicolau, senior manager of Industry Relations and Communications at ABC. “Being an Almond Leadership participant means making an impact on the industry, the local community, the future of agriculture and your own circle of family and friends.”
