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Royalton-Hartland Agriculture Foundation kicks off Farm Boot Drive

Posted 10 January 2025 at 7:32 pm

Provided photos: Students created posters and a display with boots as a fundraiser. Marc Budziszewski is at left and Coleman Sutch is at right.

Press Release, Roy-Hart Agriculture Foundation

MIDDLEPORT – The Royalton-Hartland Agriculture Foundation Farm Boot Drive has begun and will run now until Friday, January 17.

The conclusion of the boot drive will be at our MOO-vie Night Fundraiser on Jan. 17! Farm-themed concessions open at 6 p.m. and the movie begins 6:30 p.m. at Roy-Hart High School. This event is open to all community members.

Roy-Hart Elementary Green Team members’ boots are now on display at local businesses in Middleport, Gasport, Lockport and Medina for the Roy-Hart Agriculture Foundation Farm Boot Drive. If you see a pair around town, please drop your spare change or a few dollars in to help the RHES Green Team and all PreK-12th grade Ag programs at Royalton-Hartland.

We are so grateful to all these local businesses for supporting us by putting out our boots!

The boots are located at each RH school main office as well as these locations:

  • Gasport – Chop’s Shop, Ports Pizza & Subs, Hartland Abattoir, Canalside, Stockham Lumber, Schwab’s Farm Market, Drum Oil & Propane, Olear’s, Fort Hyde Kennels, Market on the Ridge, Librock Beef (Saturday only), and Hartland Town Hall.
  • Middleport – Village Pizzeria, RH Community Library, Middleport Family Health Center, Darrell’s Place, T+S Crop Services, Alternative Grounds, Amy Hannsen Training Center, X Roo Candy Shop, The Mercantile Royale, and Royalton Town Hall.
  • Lockport – Ace Hardware, Scapelliti’s, Half Baked Cookies, Clyde’s Feed & Animal Center, Howell Motors Ford and Somerset Town Hall.
  • Medina – Roberts Farm Market and Tractor Supply.

Businesses and organizations in the Roy-Hart community are displaying posters and boots in a fundraiser for the Roy-Hart Agriculture Foundation.

RHES Green Team has 41 members from 3rd and 4th grade. We meet twice a month afterschool to prepare a farm-fresh snack, read an agriculture book, learn and implement hands-on projects. Students help to maintain the Outdoor Learning Lab and other green spaces around the elementary school. We also participate in and promote NY Agriculture in the Classroom programs.

RHES Green Team members listened to a read aloud of “Farm Boots” by Lisl H. Detlefsen, a joyful verse text that takes readers through the seasons and many types of boots that are needed to get all the jobs at the farm done.

Members were asked to write and draw about how they currently use their farm boots for work or play and how they will plan to use farm boots in future.

Advisor of the club and elementary teacher Shelly Budziszewski said, “The story ‘Farm Boots’ was very touching and personal to me because farm boots were always lined up in the back room at my grandparents farm for the grandkids to use to help with chores or play in the mud. I connected this to a boot drive, like my husband’s fire company does to collect donations for our Ag program at RH.”

All funds raised through the Royalton-Hartland Agriculture Foundation will be used for agriculture education Pre-K to 12th grade as well as our extracurricular agriculture clubs, Green Team and FFA.

RHES Green Team will utilize the funds for purchasing local products for snack, gardening supplies, as well as paying for admission and transportation to local agriculture businesses for hands-on learning opportunities. Last year we traveled to McCollum’s Farms in Middleport and Hoover’s Dairy in Sanborn. This year we have visited Becker Farms for a pumpkin harvest which we used to decorate the school for Halloween and have plans to visit WNY Energy in Medina to learn about ethanol as a fuel source.