A former agricultural educator from the Lafayette area of New York State, he was a long time president of the New York FFA Alumni Association and a dear friend to many in the agricultural education community. Among the many contributions that Bob made to Ag Education and the FFA was the creation of the annual toy auction to raise funds that would eventually go to support leadership training, awards, and opportunities for thousands of young men and women.

The Ag Ed community suffered a great loss when Bob passed away in 2002. We all miss him tremendously and he will never be forgotten. Today, Bob's toy auction is still alive and well. As in past years, it will once again be held this coming February on the Friday evening (6pm, 02/23/07) of the New York State Farm Show at the State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York.

Once again we are hoping you will assist with the fundraising and get more participation in the event.The NYFFA Alumni will be presenting one free campership at Oswegatchie in the summer of 2006 for the chapter that donates the highest dollar bringing toy in this year's auction.

Details:
1. To be eligible for this award, a chapter needs to donate at least one toy into the auction. Toys auctioned off on consignment are not counted.

2. The toy that gets donated by the chapter may be purchased by the chapter, but is not required. Chapters may, and are encouraged to, secure donations from businesses, toy sellers, collectors, etc. The toy MUST be donated in the chapter's name. Multiple names on the donation are allowed. For example, Donated by XYZ Equipment and the Oswegatchie FFA; The toy must have the chapter's name listed on it's donor card.

3. Donated toys may be submitted 2 hours prior to the auction in the Empire room at the Farm Show. If chapters are not able to be in attendance, the toys may be submitted on any day of the Farm Show at the State FFA Display. Chapters may also just ship the toys to any of the officers using the addresses listed on our web page-http://www.nysffa.org/alumni_officers.htm or give those items to Oswegatchie and State FFA staff at Fall Leadership workshops/contests or simply drop them off at Oswegatchie during winter weekends.

4. All toy donations (from chapters as well as other individuals) will be auctioned off throughout the night, allowing us to tally the results and announce the winning chapter that evening. The winner will be chosen for the highest bid single toy donated by a FFA chapter.

5. We will announce the winners that evening as well as post the results. Posted results will include a description of the toy, chapter that donated it, and the dollar value bid.

6. The Alumni will pay for the amount of one student camper at Oswegatchie for the 2007 summer in the name of the winning chapter. The chapter can decide among itself how to use that credit.

Miscellaneous
We would like to see as many people show up as possible to the toy auction. Chapters and students are encouraged to come see how their toy does in the auction.