Craig Daily Press

Craig — As long as Rick Murr can remember, Moffat County Future Farmers of America have made money by loaning what most of them already have: A strong back and a willing pair of hands.

This year was no different, said Murr, Moffat County FFA co-advisor.

Moffat County FFA members hosted the group’s annual labor sale and chili supper Thursday at the Moffat County High School agricultural education building. During a silent auction, community members could make good on FFA members’ pledge to provide eight hours of labor to the highest bidder.

The high school FFA group hosts the labor sale to raise money for various conferences members attend every year, Murr said.

Proceeds from the sale also pay for materials the students use for projects and other fundraisers, including plants the students grow and sell.

Just what kind of labor the high school students perform depends on what tasks their bidders wanted accomplished, Murr said.

In the past, students performed various jobs from babysitting to building fences.

The sale teaches FFA members how to use earnings for an overall good rather than for themselves.

The money that community members pay for the students’ labor goes directly into the FFA fund — meaning the students never see the money they’ve earned.

Some students have trouble with that part of the sale.

“They want something tangible in the end,” Murr said. “They want to hold that” money.

FFA members eventually see the fruit of their labor.

Leadership training FFA members receive from state and national conventions — events the auction pays for — makes the students’ work worth the effort, Murr said.

Chelsea Mead, MCHS sophomore, said she doesn’t mind the arrangement.

“I think it’s a good way to earn money, and it’s fun sometimes, too,” she said.

Mead, whose labor was sold in the auction last year, was optimistic in estimating what her promised labor would earn the group.

Her goal: To garner $2,000 for eight hours of work, or approximately $250 per hour.

It was a high aim, she said, and a sum not often offered by bidders.

Murr said he hadn’t set a goal for how much money the auction would generate for the group.

He only hoped it was more than last year.

Last year’s sale brought the group $800. The sum paled in comparison to the $2,500 average past sales generated, Murr said.

Murr estimated that other school activities scheduled during the auction last year drew away some of the event’s usual crowd.

But as FFA co-advisor, John Haddan scanned the crowd Thursday night, looking past knots of FFA members dressed in their matching navy blue jackets, he saw a good community showing, he said.

It was the response Murr had been waiting to hear.

After all, he and Haddan weren’t the ones set to benefit from the proceeds.

“It’s for the kids,” Murr said.