October 19, 2010

Fall is in the air, and Georgia 4-H members across the state are exhibiting animals and demonstrating the skills they have acquired in their 4-H project work, particularly during the Georgia National Fair which was held October 7-17 at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry. 4-H’ers participated in the Talent Show Contest, Public Speaking Contest, 4-H Scarecrow Contest, mini booths, livestock shows and numerous other events, including performances by Clovers and Company on the final day of the fair. Georgia 4-H is appreciative to Mike Giles of the Georgia Poultry Federation, and to Perdue Farms and Richard Jamison and Tom Lee at the Perdue Farms processing center in Perry, which provides chicken for the Clover Café during the week of the Fair. I visited the fair several times and was impressed by the tremendous amount of work that Georgia 4-H members accomplished throughout the 11-day Georgia National Fair.

Our Area Forestry Judging Contests were held in September, and the State Forestry Field Day was held at Rock Eagle 4-H Center on September 18.  The state winning team from Hart County consisted of Rachel Rice, Brittany Evans, Abby Harrison, and Ashley Hollinshead.  Rachel Rice was also the High Individual. Congratulations to all, and we wish the best for the Hart County 4-H Forestry Judging Team as they travel to West Virginia later this year to compete in the National 4-H Forestry Field Day Contest.

The Southern Region Volunteer Forum was held at Rock Eagle 4-H Center September 30 - October 3 with over 300 volunteers. Volunteer Leaders from across the 13-state Southern Region participated in workshops and were inspired by motivational speakers to prepare them to better serve young people across the south. The program receives grant funding from Monsanto to support the speakers and educational efforts.

On Saturday, September 11, Georgia 4-H dedicated two new cabins at Rock Eagle 4-H Center. Cabin #31 was sponsored by the Kroger Company. Laurie King, whose first job after completing college was as an Environmental Education instructor at Rock Eagle 4-H Center, brought the response from the Kroger Company. We certainly appreciate all the work that Horace Hamilton and Laurie of Kroger, as well as many others, have done to help fund the Kroger Customer Cabin. Also, the Georgia Development Authority Cabin #32 was dedicated in honor of Georgia’s longtime Commissioner of Agriculture, Tommy Irvin. The response for the Georgia Development Cabin was given by Russ Hinton, a former 4-H’er from Warren County who currently serves on the board of the Georgia Development Authority and is head of the Georgia State Department of Audits. In addition, we re-dedicated the Gas Building at Rock Eagle. The response for the Gas Building dedication was given by John Taylor, whose father and grandfather were longtime supporters of Georgia 4-H and Rock Eagle 4-H Center. John brought along a photograph of his grandfather, E. Roy Taylor, and some 4-H’ers in the Gas Building when it first opened in the late 1950's. Georgia 4-H expresses a special thank you to these donors for their commitment to the continued improvement of Rock Eagle 4-H Center.

The fifth Biennial Georgia Youth Summit was held at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, Georgia from September 11 - 13. Sponsored by the Department of Community affairs, 716 youth and adults from 133 counties gathered to increase their awareness of state and local issues, enhance youth-adult partnerships on the local level and to become active in the betterment of their community. On the evening of September 13, I had the opportunity to speak to the Board of Education in Warren County.  During the board meeting, the principal of the high school gave a presentation which included a video of the young people who had just returned from the Youth Summit at noon that day. The principal was excited because the four youth from Warren County who had attended the Youth Summit wanted to develop a peer-to-peer mentoring system in their county to help reduce the high school dropout rate. It was certainly a wonderful moment for me to know that 4-H was leading an effort of young people who were returning to their communities and working to make an immediate positive impact on their peers. I encourage you to visit the Summit website for more information on grants to support Summit projects and learn about the issues that are most important to Georgia’s youth.

We certainly appreciate the tremendous private and public support that we receive from our donors and elected officials across our state. During the past few days, most of you have received a request from the Georgia 4-H Foundation to contribute to our annual fund, supporting the programs and facilities of Georgia 4-H. I hope you will consider making a gift to Georgia 4-H to support the work that we do and help us continue to have a positive impact upon the lives of more than 160,000 young people in our state.

Until next time, continue “To Make the Best Better.”

Sincerely,