March 29, 2024

Celebrate National 4-H Week Oct. 5-11

More than six million young people across the country will celebrate National 4-H Week, an annual celebration of 4-H during the first full week of October. Union County 4-H will leverage National 4-H Week this year to showcase the great things 4-H offers young people and highlights the incredible 4-H youths in the community who work each day to make a positive impact on the community.

The week will kick off in Union County with a 4-H cookout 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at McKinley Park. This event is open to the public both 4-Hers and non-4-Hers, young and old. There will be food, fun and games and conversation.

Throughout the week 4-Hers will be showing their 4-H pride by wearing their 4-H shirts to school and handing out giveaways to elementary children in the schools.

On Oct. 8, 4-Hers will be going trick or treating for canned food items around the residential areas at 5 p.m. Donations will go to support local food pantries. Residents are encouraged to be prepared for 4-H trick or treaters to stop at their door.

National 4-H Week will end with the 4-Hers showing their appreciation for the support from local businesses.

Union County offers 11 different 4-H clubs that fourth- through 12th-graders can join. Each of these clubs focuses on similar topics consisting of different project areas, citizenship and volunteering and communications. In addition, several of the clubs specialize in an area such as horses or shooting sports.

4-H in Union County has seen record enrollment this year breaching the 200 mark for fourth- through 12th-graders.

The barns at the county fair were also filled to capacity as more animals were exhibited by 166 4-Hers. Union County had the honor of being represented at the Iowa State Fair by a total of 55 4-Hers in livestock, nonlivestock projects and communications events combined.

Union County tested out some new areas this past year as well with a Communications Day event which resulted in state fair selections and a new market broiler project which involved 21 4-Hers and 105 broilers and ended with a successful fair sale auction.

Research has proven that participation in 4-H has a significant positive impact on young people. Recent findings from the Tufts University 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development indicate that, when compared to their peers, young people in 4-H are:

• Nearly four times more likely to contribute to their communities,

• Two times more likely to pursue healthy behaviors, and

• Two times more likely to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs in out-of-school time.

In Union County, more than 200 4-H youths and 100 volunteers from the community are involved in 4-H.

For more information about 4-H, contact Haley Jones, county youth and outreach coordinator, at 641-782-8426 or hjones@iastate.edu.