Live Oak FFA officers and club members serve meals during one of the organization's two largest fundraisers, the annual Tri-Tip Dinner, held Friday, Oct. 2. Pictured, back row, from left, are FFA Secretary Alondra Lara, Vice President Sam Contreras, Sentinel Zach Contreras, President Anna Martinez, Cade Applewhite, Vivian Broussard, Regional Sentinel Aiden Berg, Stephanie Ortega, Reporter Merideth Bole and Leo Fernandez. Front row, from left, are Historian Esme Dias and Michael Saefong.

 

LIVE OAK, CA (MPG) - Live Oak FFA fired up the grills Friday, Oct. 2 for its annual Tri-Tip BBQ, one of the chapter's largest fundraisers of the year, helping support student travel, competitions and leadership activities.

The annual dinner is one of Live Oak High School FFA's largest fundraising events of the year and a long-standing traditions.

LOHS FFA President Anna Martinez said hosting the drive-thru tri-tip dinner early in the school year helps club members finance upcoming competitions and events, such as the FFA Leadership Conference in Los Angeles.

"It's a time period where we are settled into school and our members are informed on what's happening for the year," Martinez said. "It's really important that we put our all into it (the fundraiser) and try our best to get enough support from the community."

Martinez said the officer team begins planning the event as soon as school begins and solicits donations from businesses in the local community.

"This year we got donations from Grocery Outlet in Gridley. They were able to donate 140 salads, so we're really grateful for that," Martinez said.

Whatever meal ingredients cannot be donated are purchased, according to LOHS FFA adviser Stephanie Allan.

"The tri-tip is made by the Country Butcher. They sell it to us at a good price. Grocery Outlet and the Country Butcher have supported us for years for this particular fundraiser," Allan said.

The FFA club prepares the meals as a group and prepackages them for pickup, learning not only portioning but proper food-handling requirements for public safety.

Live Oak FFA member Vivian Broussard delivers a dinner to a community member during the annual Tri-Tip Dinner fundraiser.  

Dinners were presale only, allowing FFA students to plan carefully to avoid waste and maximize overall profits. Meals that were not claimed during the two-hour pickup window were donated to others.

Allan reported that 130 meals were sold, netting the FFA organization a profit for the upcoming school year. Each $65 meal fed four people and included tri-tip, salad, baked beans and dessert.

As a senior, Martinez brought experience from previous dinners and perspective to the 2026 fundraiser. Despite this year's turnout, she said rising food costs reduced the event's overall profitability.

"It was a little more difficult year, to be honest. I mean the gas ... everything's going up in prices. We do try to maintain our prices where the community can come and buy them and still bring us a profit," Martinez said.

At the end of the day, the community supported the event and LOHS FFA was thankful.

"We were still able to get support from the community, so that is what matters to us," Martinez said.

The money raised supports travel expenses and other costs for upcoming LOHS FFA competitions, such as the Chili Cook-Off scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 7 in Lincoln, followed by career development event competitions scheduled at Shasta College for Thursday, Oct. 8, according to Martinez.

To continue supporting travel and competitions, LOHS FFA plans to host a Bunco Night fundraiser.

This will be the second installment of Bunco Night, which Allan said was highly successful last year.

"Last year was a trial year. The community loved it and they said, 'Please don't wait a whole year to do this again,'" Allan said.

LOHS FFA will host the first of its Bunco Nights on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. at the LOHS cafeteria, with a $25 buy-in. To purchase tickets, contact LOHS FFA.