BELHAVEN — A local school was presented with a grant last week that allows the school to purchase a greenhouse for its FFA program.

The grant was awarded to Pungo Christian Academy through America’s Farmers Grow Communities, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund. The funds were directed to the school through local farmer Paul Sasnett, who entered to win $2,500 that would go toward a nonprofit organization of his choice.

The program, which has given over $19 million in grants since its inception in 2010, awards a winner in each of the 1,324 eligible counties across 40 states in the United States, according to www.americasfarmers.com.

Charles Daniels, the school’s FFA advisor, said Sasnett, a farmer in the Pinetown area of Beaufort County, visited the school for the grant presentation. The funds, along with other prior donations from parents and community members, will go toward purchasing a greenhouse for the FFA program. The greenhouse will be used to not only teach students about farming and growing different vegetables and flowers, but the vegetation grown in the greenhouse will be sold in the community, making the project self-sufficient, Daniels said.

“We are a small, private school, and we are not as funded like the state schools are,” Daniels said. “We have a shop (for FFA), and we needed another venue we could go through, and a greenhouse is the best thing in the world we could use. It’s going to be a self-supporting thing, too, and the kids will learn how to grow things. We’ve done really well, and the kids are really good, so it’s been a win-win situation. I’m just excited about it, and we’re really, really tickled about getting that greenhouse. (The kids) were really happy.”