Centerpoint School District Receives Grant for Meat Market

The Centerpoint School District in Pike County has received over $60,000 in grant funds from the Arkansas Department of Career Education to start a full-service meat market. School officials say between the meat market and the soon-to-be-started farmers’ market, local communities soon will be provided new sources for fresh meat and produce.

The funds will go back into the high school FFA chapter. Students will operate the entire operation under the supervision of Mr. Crawley, exactly as is the setup in their meats lab. Students who work after school will be paid through several different funding sources.

Because of USDA regulations, the two operations will actually be completely separate. They will still offer custom slaughtering and processing just as we’ve done for over 20 years. Meat for the meat market will be purchased separately and butchered according to customers’ preferences.

When the current meats lab building was constructed around 2006, a space for the meat market was included. This grant will enable the Centerpoint school to offer a state-of-the-art market to customers.