Cake in a Pan project celebrates 90th year of Streator FFA Chapter

STREATOR, Ill. — As part of the celebration of the 90th year of the Streator FFA Chapter, chapter members are working on a Cake in a Pan project that will be shared with the Streator community.

The Streator FFA Chapter signed its official chapter charter in 1934.

FFA members will be assembling the Cake in the Pan kits during the chapter’s Lock-In that kicks off National FFA Week activities on Feb. 16.

Each kit will contain items for making a cake, including aluminum cake pans, cake mix, can of Sprite, frosting, sprinkles and candles.

Community members are supporting the project by either donating the cost for the kit at $10 or the materials required for the kit.

Once the kits are assembled, FFA members will deliver them to the Streatorland Community Food Pantry for distribution.

“Our goal is to 100 kits,” said Riley Hintzsche, who teaches agriculture and is a FFA adviser at Streator Township High School together with Gwen Heimerdinger.

The National FFA Week Committee at the Streator chapter has planned many additional activities during the Lock-In, including a scavenger hunt.

“Groups of four to six kids will go around the school and there are certain things they have to do, like take a photo of a person high-fiving a vending machine,” said Klay Schaffner, a member of the committee.

“There are 20 things they have to do and they will all be racing to see who can get done first and there will be a prize for the first group,” Schaffner said.

Another fun activity at the Lock-In is the musical chair competition.

“People take it serious and it’s a very fun experience trying to fight for a chair,” said Cody Taylor, who is one of the chairs of the National FFA Week Committee along with Kiana Hawthorne and Ella Chalkey. “My brother, Austin, won musical chairs four years in a row.”

“The Lock-In is my favorite activity for FFA Week and I enjoy playing Hide and Go Seek and musical chairs,” said Hawthorne, who is a high school sophomore.

On Monday of National FFA Week, the Streator FFA members plan to go skiing, if there is enough snow at the ski facility, since school is closed for Presidents Day.

Special dress-up days are planned for the high school members from Tuesday through Friday.

“The dress-up days will be farmers and flannels, twin day, pajama day and on Friday it is FFA attire or official dress,” Hawthorne said. “My favorite is pajama day because I like being comfy.”

The committee is also organizing greeters for each morning of National FFA Week.

“This is something last year’s committee started and we invite community members to greet all the kids when they walk in the building,” Hintzsche said. “The mayor and members of the police and fire department are usually on Friday.”

For the other days, Streator businesses such as restaurants, boutiques or insurance companies send employees to the school to be a greeter.

“It provides a connection to the community and we ask them to bring something to hand out like a piece of candy or hot chocolate to make it more than just good morning,” Hintzsche said.

During the week, many Streator businesses will be placing special stickers on items such as cups, pizza boxes and bags to remind customers of the National FFA Week celebration.

“The students will distribute 15,000 stickers to several businesses,” Hintzsche said.

The 47th annual Pancake Breakfast will be served by the Streator FFA members from 6 to 8 a.m. Feb. 23 in the Streator High School commons.

“We invite alumni, community members and faculty and we usually serve about 300 people,” Hintzsche said. “Even the year when there was COVID, we couldn’t have the breakfast here at the school, so we bought 500 individual servings of pancake mix and a pound of sausage and gave it to community members.”

National FFA Week will conclude Feb. 24 with the second annual Streator FFA Alumni Auction and Dinner at 5 p.m.

“Last year, we raised about $21,000 and all the money goes back to the kids,” Hintzsche said about the Streator ag program that currently includes 216 students.

The Streator FFA members frequently work with the town’s food pantry. During November, the chapter completed a Gobble Gifting for Thanksgiving project.

“It costs $35 to sponsor a meal and we take the kids to go shopping for the food that goes in the box,” Hintzsche said. “Everything is in the box to cook a Thanksgiving meal.”

In addition, the Streator FFA members donate all the food they grow in the ag department’s garden to the food pantry.

“About 1,500 pounds from our garden goes to the pantry,” the FFA adviser said.

Since he started teaching agriculture at the school 10 years ago, Hintzsche said he has seen a lot of changes in the community.

“I’ve watched the town revitalize itself,” he said.

“Although things like the cake project may not do a lot, it can be something that brings spirit back into our town,” Hintzsche said. “And if we can save someone $35 since they won’t have to buy their Thanksgiving dinner, then that’s money they can spend on their kids for Christmas gifts.”