A NEWSLETTER FOR 4-H VOLUNTEERS AND FAMILIES JANUARY, 2007
YORK COUNTY 4H NEWS
Enrollments, Enrollments!!!
We want to remind you that you must re-enroll by December 31 (this is a Sunday, so forms will need to be in the office no later than close of business on December 29.), if you plan on showing at Maine State fairs and Acton Fair in 2007.
Don’t wait – if you miss this deadline, you will not be allowed to show livestock at any Maine State Fair in 2007 or at Acton Fair. You will also not be able to apply for a 4-H Found-ation Scholarship and you will not be insured with the American Insurance Life that is provided by the Pine Tree State 4-H Found-ation. Don’t delay getting your forms in.
If you have turned them in to your club leader, make sure they are delivered to the Extension Office ASAP. It will take Sheila some time to input the updated data, so help her out.
THANK YOU!!!!
VOLT Training
A new volunteer VOLT training was held in November. Every volunteer (including teens) who work directly with 4-H youth for more than 6 hours a year, MUST take this training. It’s really a great way to learn more about 4-H and what it has to offer.
We are encouraging our 4-H parents to also take this training because it will help them help their children. Don’t wait to do this. Once you are VOLT trained, you are eligible to attend and VOTE at Leaders’ Association meetings. The next VOLT training will be held in March.
Community Service Award presented to York County Shepherds, Etc
We were pleased to present the annual Community Service award at 4-H Fallfest this year. This award is presented each year to a 4-H club that undertakes exemplary community service work. This year’s award went to the York County Shepherds, Etc.
The club received grant funding and prepared clothing and overnight duffle bags to support foster children who have been placed in new homes.
Alysha Michaud accepted the award on behalf of the club. Congratulations on great community service work!
Appreciating our 4-H Leaders
We will be appreciating our incredible 4-H leaders at a Leaders Appreciation evening, February 21. Amelia Chamberlain, Executive Director of Willowbrook Museum, will be our featured speaker and presenter. Stay tuned for more information.
Happy Birthday to… Special December and January birthday
wishes to these 4-H'ers: December Tori
Boissonneault Meredith
Chessie Alexandra
Connor Mason
Darling Nicole
Harlow Colleen
Mahoney Hannah
Miller Todd
Miller Rachel
Robertson John
Sherman Caroline
Whitney January Ross
Conroy Marey
Dunn Eliza
Grant Alyssa
Gudjonsson-Kaply Kerri
Lyn Herandez Kylie
Johnson Morgan
MacGown Ashley
Martin Courtney
Morang Rueben
Moses Abbe
Parker Jamie
Powers Laura
Putnam Brianna
Sampson Holly
Smith Jack
Stapleton Sarah
Tewksbury Forrest
Tripp Shelby
Walker Mitchell
White Ashley
Young
Calendar December
31 Deadline for re-enrollment Jan-May 4-H Art HOPE, Feb
2-3 4-H Volunteer
Feedback Forum, Orono February 21 4-H Leaders Appreciation March VOLT
New Leader Training
State and National News
4-H State and National News is now coming out of the State 4-H Office. While not everything that comes may interest you or be relevant to you and your club, we think you will enjoy reading about the many things that 4-H is doing at the State and National Level. We appreciate the State getting this to us for our newsletters.
State and National News
New 4-H Leadership
Structure Approved
In November, 4-H staff approved a new shared leadership structure that we believe will be more efficient in decision-making, while helping to lead Maine 4-H forward in the four program areas that have emerged out of our strategic planning process this past year. Those program areas are: Science, Engineering and Technology (which includes our Animal Science programs), Healthy Lifestyles, Earth Connections and Sustainable Living, and Youth-in-Governance. We invite and encourage 4-H members and volunteers to join these program teams along with staff.
The leadership structure works as follows: a three-person "policy team" meets monthly to consider any issues that have arisen related to policies and procedures (Policy Team members are Christy Fitzpatrick as our new Program Coordinator, Fred Schlutt as the Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation Director, and Shirley Hager, as Program Administrator).
The Policy Team researches the issues and brings their information and recommendations to our 4-H Executive Committee, which we fondly call the "Green Team."
The Green Team meets monthly to provide leadership and direction to the whole 4-H program, and consists of the above-mentioned Christy, Fred and Shirley, plus the Director of our Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center (Brian Robinson), and a representative from each of the Program Teams.
Quarterly, all of the 4-H Educators and Professionals in the state meet to share programs, address any issues that need input and decisions from the whole, and to make sure we're on track with our overall strategic plan.
If you have any questions or concerns that you would like to bring to 4-H leadership for consideration, please contact your local county 4-H staff, and they will make sure that your issue gets to a member of the Green Team. (Note: Jon Prichard is a member of the Green Team.)
Maine 4-H Volunteer Development Plan – Survey and Forum
A group of 4-H volunteers, educators and aides has been working on a Maine 4-H Volunteer Plan. The plan would create a "strategic type" plan on how the Maine 4-H Program identifies, selects, orients, trains and recognizes its volunteers.
As part of the committee's efforts, each county will be asked to help us in a short survey of 4-H volunteers. The survey will occur in December. We will be asking your help is conducting the survey.
The results of the survey will be complied and used in what the committee is calling A Volunteer Feedback Forum: Voice of Maine 4-H Volunteers. The Forum will take place in Orono on February 2nd and 3rd with a snow
date of March 2nd and 3rd. We will be inviting each county to send a team of up to four 4-H adult volunteers.
The Forum will start at 3 p.m. on Friday and include some basic 4-H leader trainings and local entertainment options. The forum will continue on Saturday at 9 a.m. up to 3 p.m. Room and board will be furnished for those volunteers attending. The forum on Saturday will be an interactive session, where we will ask the adult volunteers their opinions on a variety of 4-H volunteer issues in Maine.
The forum is a "mini-strategic planning" session, where we will take the results to produce a working Maine 4-H Volunteer Plan. To create more diversity we will be asking counties to consider sending a new 4‑H volunteer (less than 4 years), a livestock oriented volunteer and a 4-H volunteer who works with 4-H members in non-traditional projects.
More details and registration information will be available in late December.
4-H Foundation Scholarships
Just a note to let you know about some changes to the 4-H Foundation Scholarships.
We will have nine scholarships this year, which will include expanding the two Claude F. Clement Scholarships and the renaming and endowing of The Gladys Conant Memorial Farm Credit 4-H Scholarship by Farm Credit of Maine.
Wayne S. Rich Scholarship ($1,000)
Parker-Lovejoy Scholarship ($1,000)
Claude F. Clement Scholarship (2 - $1,000)
Verna Church Witter Scholarship ($1,000)
Azure Dillon 4-H Memorial Scholarship ($1,000)
Evelyn L. Trotzky Scholarship ($1,000)
The Gladys Conant Memorial Farm Credit 4-H Scholarship ($1,000)
Doris Roberts, H. Lawrence, and George Lawrence Humphrey 4-H Scholarship ($1,000)
Qualified candidates must be: 1) a current member of 4-H (enrolled by December 31, 2006) who is currently active in 4-H activities; and 2) a graduating senior or an individual who has graduated from high school, but has delayed going to a post-secondary school for no more than one year. Candidates are only eligible to apply in the spring prior to entering post-secondary education.
The major change for this year is that scholarship candidates must be enrolled by December 31, 2006 to be eligible
Information and applications are located at: http://www.umaine.edu/4hfoundation/funding.htm#Scholarships
Applications are due in the county 4-H office on March 9th and in the 4-H Foundation Office on March 16th, 2007. Successful applicants are expected to attend the Annual Meeting of the Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation, May 24, 2007, in Orono.
4-H Grant Changes
A couple of changes have been made to the 4-H Foundation Grant program for FY 2007.
First, we have reduced the deadlines from three to two. The deadlines for 2007 Program Development and Group Travel grants will be March 1st and September 1st.
Second, any unspent grant funds will be rolled over to the next funding period.
Third, due to the popularity of Program Development grants, the amount available has been increased from $6,000 to $8,000 in 2007.
Grant information and applications are located at: http://www.umaine.edu/4hfoundation/funding.htm
Help 4-H at the Movies!
You can support 4-H in Maine by buying tickets to see the new live action version of Charlotte’s Web that is playing in theaters now.
For every ticket purchased to see Paramount Pictures and Walden Media’s production of Charlotte’s Web through www.fourcouncil.edu, Hollywood Movie Money will donate $1 to help 4-H support Maine’s 4-H Youth Development Program.
You must purchase your tickets to Charlotte’s Web through www.fourhcouncil.edu for 4-H and Maine’s 4-H Youth Development Program to receive this donation.
technology, healthy living, and citizenship.
Citizenship Washington Focus
Start making plans now to visit our Nation’s Capitol during the week of the 4th of July. Citizenship Washington Focus is a leadership program conducted by the National 4-H Council for high school youth ages 15 to 19. Delegations of 4-Hers from across the country spend six days touring the city and attending leadership skill-building workshops. This summer, the Maine delegation will leave on June 30 and return on July 7, 2007. You will stay at the National 4-H Conference Center just outside Washington, DC. Visiting the most popular sites in Washington will be a part of the trip.
Contact the county 4-H office to find out how to apply for this trip. Each county will have its own selection process.
National 4-H Conference
Five delegates from Maine will attend the National 4-H Conference March 23 to 28, 2007. They are Brianna Hannington of Aroostook County, Andrew Hardy of Franklin County, Patrick Lindsey of Kennebec County, Shannon Svoboda of Aroostook County, and Rebekah Wakefield of Penobscot County. This five-day youth conference is held at the National 4-H Conference Center just outside of Washington, DC where 4-H delegations from every state meet to share ideas and form recommendations for the future of 4-H. Delegates participate in activities that emphasize civic engagement, youth-adult partnerships, and professional development.
If you are between the ages of 14 and 19, and would like to attend the National 4-H Conference in 2008, you can apply this spring. More details are available from your county extension office.
Market Beef
All 4-Hers in the Market Beef project who plan to raise a steer for the Windsor Fair or Fryeburg Fair, need to send in an “Intent to Sell” form to their County Cooperative Extension office by January 3, 2007. The forms are available at your county office and on- line at www.maine4h.umaine.edu. Go to Members > Forms and Records, and scroll down to find the form.
In January, you will be contacted about the time and place to tag your steer. The person tagging your steer will have an approval form for you to fill out and s/he will record your tag numbers. Your approval form for your Market Beef project is due in the county office on February 15, 2007.
American Income Life Insurance
We are pleased to announce that the Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation will provide the annual American Income Life accident insurance for all 4-H members in 2007. This is the annual $1 per member and $2 per member in the horse project that some of you currently utilize. This is our way of making sure all organized 4-H club members are covered by accident insurance, when they are engaged in a 4-H activity.
To make this work, American Income Life will require that 4-H members be enrolled in 4HPLUS (this is the database program used at the county/state level) and that data would need to be in the State 4-H Office.
To make this happen, the State Office is requesting that each county send their 2007 data to the State 4-H Office by Friday, January 5th, 2007. As new members are added during the year, they will be added members to our policy. If the member is not in the state database they will not be covered.
4-H Supports Families of the Troops Through Operation Military Kids
When National Guard, Army Reserve and other military parents living in civilian communities are mobilized, their children’s lives are turned upside down! Many of their usual support systems may no longer be adequate. Extensive media coverage of on-going military operations creates daily anxiety. These “new” military kids need to connect with other youth in similar situations. They seek friends and adults who can empathize and can help them cope with their new world.
State and County Cooperative Extension staff, community agencies, schools and 4-H club youth are reaching out to military youth…before, during and after their parents are deployed. This outreach effort is called Operation: Military Kids! The program:
· Creates community support network for military youth “in our own backyard” when soldier parents are deployed.
· Delivers recreation, social and educational programs for military youth living in civilian communities.
· Supports military kids coping with the stress of knowing their deployed parent’s are in harm’s way.
· Collaborates with schools to ensure that staff are attuned to the unique needs of military students.
· Educates the public on the impact of the deployment cycle on soldiers, families, kids and the community as a whole.
· Becomes a part of the ongoing 4-H program in the location where there are military families.
For more information on Operation Military Kids, contact Chris Bozak, cbozak@aol.com
Thanks to Coastal Clovers 4-H Club
Special thanks to Coastal Clovers 4-H Club in Cape Neddick. The Club created a beautiful Gingerbread Cookie Farm, complete with animals, and lots of colorful, wonderfully scented decorations. Club Leader Russ Osgood, presented the GC Farm as a gift to the York County Extension office.
Russ serves on the Executive Committee of York County Extension and presented the Farm to the office at the December board meeting.