More Than Just Potatoes

When is a potato more than just a potato?

According to Jennie Gordon, First Lady of Wyoming, it’s when it represents dignity for one of the 86,000 Wyoming residents who struggle with food insecurity.

“At the end of the day, we are just packing potatoes, but they’re not just potatoes. They represent the passion for your community, for your school and for your state,” said Gordon. “They also represent dignity to those folks who are going to receive those potatoes. They can use them in their Thanksgiving meal. Not everybody has a big meal at Thanksgiving, so having those potatoes might help them have a very complete meal.”

On October 29, Gordon joined the Saratoga FFA and students from both Saratoga Middle High School (SMHS) and Saratoga Elementary School in packing potatoes donated by Silver Spur Ranches to the Food Bank of Wyoming.

“They [Silver Spur Ranches] called the ag advisors to see if we’d be interested in sorting potatoes to help people in the community,” said Siara Hatch, SMHS vocational agriculture teacher and Saratoga FFA advisor. “We did ours as a service project, to donate to families in need or to other organizations. The [American] Legion has some and they’re going to use them for their thanksgiving dinner.”

Along with donating to Saratoga, Silver Spur Ranches also donated potatoes to the agriculture programs at Encampment K-12 School and Little Snake River Valley High School. The tubers which were sorted on October 29 were the second load donated to SMHS and were donated specifically for the purpose of donating to the Food Bank of Wyoming. According to Hatch, it started with Stacy Broda, the Wyoming State FFA Advisor.

“Stacy Broda gave them [Wyoming Hunger Initiative] my number and they called me to see if we would be willing to be the workforce for this,” said Hatch. “The Silver Spur was willing to donate the potatoes but they needed somebody to facilitate the sorting, so we took that on.”

Gordon, who launched the Wyoming Hunger Initiative in 2019, was joined by Treasuer of the Wyoming Hunger Initiative, Laurie Box, as well as representatives from the Food Bank of Wyoming and Cen$tible Nutrition. Before braving the autumn rainfall, the First Lady spoke to SMHS students about her passion regarding food insecurity.

“My mother grew up in Austria. She lived through World War II and so, when she came to the United States in 1950, she was so grateful to be here and raised her 10 children to be grateful for what they had and give back if they could,” said Gordon. “My dad lived through the [Great] Depression in the United States.”

According to Gordon, her father’s family was homeless during the Great Depression after her grandfather fell ill and could no longer work.

“I grew up with that in the back of my mind and knew, when I got to a place when I could give back, that I would work on food insecurity,” said Gordon. “That is where my passion starts from and the [Wyoming] Hunger Initiative was started in 2019.”

During her address to the student body, Gordon focused not only on passion, but on people, partnerships and perseverance as well. She encouraged the students—ranging from 5th to 12th grade—to surround themselves with people who had similar passions.

“People who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves. We’re all going to roll up our sleeves today with these potatoes,” said Gordon. “Today it is potatoes but look around this room, there are people who are passionate about food. Cent$ible Nutrition and the FFA and all of your teachers and your administrators. Find those good people and keep them close.”

By surrounding themselves with people of similar passion, Gordon told the students they would be forming important partnerships. What makes the partnerships work even better, said Gordon, is planning.

“There’s an old African proverb that says, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ You can do so much more when you work together and you’re rowing the boat in the same direction,” said Gordon. “In the book ‘The Little Prince,’ the author says ‘A goal without a plan is just a wish.’ We all wish on our birthday candles and wish on wishing wells, but if you really want to accomplish something you have to set that goal and make that plan.”

Gordon’s words hit home with some members of the Saratoga FFA. Neacy Berger, Sammi Walker and Taylor Malcolm all said they were inspired by the First Lady’s speech to the student body.

“I thought it was really important, especially in our community where we’re so blessed with everything that we do have,” said Malcolm.

“I think it’s good that we’re doing more service for our community,” added Walker.

Darrin Jennings, Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) superintendent, was also inspired by Gordon’s speech.

“I loved what she said about partnerships because without our partnerships with the Silver Spur or our local ranches or business people we’re not very successful on our own,” said Jennings.

Following the brief assembly, members of Saratoga FFA and Hatch’s agriculture classes braved the autumn rains to head out to the red lean-to shed where a mountain of potatoes awaited sorting. There, Gordon’s comments on passion and partnerships came to life as older students helped elementary students sort through and bag potatoes. Throughout the day, different grades were transported from Saratoga Elementary School to SMHS to help with the sorting.

With sleeves rolled up and many hands ready to help, it didn’t take long for each pallet of potatoes to be completed and loaded onto the Food Bank of Wyoming truck. The day was not without smiles and laughter amid the hard work. As one pallet was being pulled away, two young elementary school students were just late enough to put their filled bags onto the pile. Sophomore Griffin Bartlett was quick to take the bags off their hands and wait for a new pallet. Gordon herself pitched in, coordinating with teachers and students on how best to place the bags on the pallet.

While it might have been a day—or even an hour—out of class for some students, for Hatch it was much more.

“This is a really great opportunity to showcase our school and our program and our kids,” said Hatch. “How hardworking they are and how much they care about helping others.”