4-H Club Initiates Teacher Appreciation Breakfast

On Wednesday June 3rd, 190 teachers, staff and bus drivers from the Moravia School District were treated to breakfast and an outpouring of gratitude from students, parents and a variety of youth groups. Led by the Millard Fillmore 4-H Club, the event brought together the work of Girl Scout Troops 241, 432 and 1020, Daisy Girls 1040, Moravia FFA, APT, MCS Sports Boosters and the Millard Fillmore 4-H Club. These groups worked collaboratively during the month before the event to recruit donations and food and prepare favors for the guests of honor.

As a thank you for all of the time and dedication that district staff give to students, youth hand-made origami boxes filled with home-made truffles for each of the teachers, staff members and bus drivers. The youth groups also made posters for each of the schools and bus garage – with slogans like “Teachers Rock” and “We love our bus drivers.” FFA donated 20 hanging baskets as door prizes for staff. Breakfast items, including bagels, coffee cakes, yogurt, fruit, western egg omelet, juice and coffee, were made by caring families throughout the district.

Teachers and staff were touched by the kindness of this event. Comments like, “we never had anything like this before” and “what a great way to start the day” filled the morning. Plans are already in place to host another Teacher/Staff Appreciation Breakfast next year.

The event would not have been possible without the collaboration and services of local businesses including: Red Apple, Kinney Drugs, Modern Market, Kendra's Culinary Creations, New York Pizzeria, Wal-Mart, Dee Dee's, and Donovan Luksa.

Youth in governance makes government come alive

CCE Genesee County. Hands-on learning extends beyond making things. When you youth are making decisions, role-playing, and forming relationships with decision makers they are learning about government in a very practical, concrete way. This is the approach taken by CCE Genesee County.

The Genesee County 4-H Shadow Jury program offered a high profile criminal court case for high school students to participate in this year. In the spring of 2008, 12 students served as a shadow jury in the programs first murder trial. Participating students indicated very positive experiences in first hand learning of the county courts and system of justice. This was communicated during a special post trial debriefing with county court officials (including the judge, DA, Defense attorney and official jurors).

Shadow Jury is a part of the Genesee County 4-H Local Government Program, now in its 39th year. It continues to grow and be fine tuned as an experiential education program for high school students. 19 students completed the course this year. Students were engaged in a four part educational experience earning up to ½ unit of elective credit in some participating schools. The experience included tours and seminars to observe county government departments; observation and participation in bi monthly County Legislature meetings; researching and drafting a resolution that reflects as realistic local/county government issue; participating in a student run legislature session.

As a part of this program, the Genesee Youth In Action Youth Conference Committee planned and implemented the 2008 Genesee Youth Conference. At this Youth Conference, youth learn about significant facts surrounding current youth issues. Partners from the community instructed over 400 youth, teachers and youth serving educators in 30 workshops.
The program is well supported with ties to NYS government, Senator Rath’s Office; Genesee County Youth Bureau; Genesee Community College; Genesee County Legislature; Genesee United Memorial Healthy Living Program; Batavia Area YMCA; Planned Parenthood; Genesee County Courts; Genesee County Government Departments; Local Schools; private businesses and industry supporting the conference and a Youth in Action Annual grant from the NYS Office of Children and Family Services through Genesee County Youth Bureau and a Special Member Item Grant from NYS Senator Mary Lou Rath.

Schenectady County Nov/Dev Update

On October 23, 2008, 17 Action Taking Tween/Teen (ATT) group members gathered to listen to member Kaitlin Arndell speak about her experiences over the summer with a homeless person in the City of Schenectady. Mike Saccocio, Executive Director for the City Mission, spoke with the group about homelessness in Schnectady County. After he left, the group thought about how they could 'raise the level of awareness about the topic of homelessness in the county' and decided to coordinate various projects for community members to participate in. ATT members asked the 4-H Educator to make arrangements for a tour of the City Mission to further their knowledge. A tour was held on November 15th, 2008. A timeline of Community Action Projects related to "Operation H.O.P." is being developed and will be sent out to all organizational leaders. ATT is looking for liaisions to schools and others who would like to help spread the word. ATT has committed to trying to raise the level of awareness about homelessness in Schenectady for one year. ATT looks forward to working with people from throughout the county and welcome support from everyone. A meeting was scheduled for Dec '08 to make scarves and hats.

Delaware County December 2008 News

This year 632 Delaware County 4-H Members working in partneship with adults, participated in a variety of community service projects. Teens selected, designed, and implemented the many activies and afterwards processed their efforts making the activities much more meaningful to them personally.

• Five clubs applied for $100.00 Community Service mini-grants and used the money to provide care packages for children abruptly placed in Foster Care programs.
• Purchased items needed by an Animal Sanctuary.
• Volunteered their time to clean and paint.
• Provided an orphanage with basic supplies.
• Helped with a community Easter Egg Hunt.
• Raised $1000.00 for a community pool.
• Twenty individual partipated in a countywide community service project making 21 Lap Quilts for the Mountainside Residential Care Center in Margaretville.

CLUB RECOMMENDS FAMILY FRIENDLY GOALS FOR TRAIL

In May seven Junior members of the Millard Fillmore 4-H Club were asked to serve as consultants to the Owasco Flats Nature Reserve. Youth, afterall, add a unique perspective about trail use - especially when the question is "how can we make this trail and natural area more family friendly".

The youth, grades 4th - 9th, hiked the loop trail and came up with several no-nonsense goals for the Owasco Flats Nature Reserve. The most basic of the responses included formalizing the trail. "How would someone know that this is a trail?" stated Brenna O'Brien as the group hiked the overgrown old railroad bed that parallels Rte 38. Club members also thought that a kiosk with information about the unique plants and animals in the area, and the history of the LeHigh Valley Railroad would be interesting, informative and would attract attention. They also suggested that signs near the water showing the common fish you can catch would be of interest to the fisherman. The other very common observation related to the overgrowth of poison ivy in the area. In many locations it was knee deep, and in all instances it is growing up the trees along the trail path. "There must be a way to get rid of poison ivy, other nature trails have to do it", commented Anna Carmichael, 11.

A couple of other very simple suggestions were offered: "The trail needs a litter clean up and signs to help people remember to clean this beautiful area up", commented Cara Carmichael, 10. Most of the trash found was left by fisherman using the area. Fishing line as well as bait containers and beverage bottles littered the Inlet side of the trail. And while the group counted more than 11 fire rings informally built by fisherman using the area, the youth thought that these areas could be formalized for safety and beautification. "If people are going to build fires here anyway, there should probably be fire pits where there is less of a chance of a forest fire", stated Brenna O'Brien, 11.

More sophisticated ideas were also suggested to enhance the use of this area by families. Club members suggested: a boardwalk over the muddy areas, and another boardwalk into the wetland area as a bird observatory, and occasional benches for watching the water and wildlife. And "If you really want to make this place fun for kids, you should add a forest playground, or swings to the parking area", added Summer MacAdam Gorham, 11. The youth also discussed the benefits of widening the trail for use by mountain bikes.

Club members appreciated being introduced to the scenic landscape and recreational trail offered by the Owasco Flats Nature Reserve. They really appreciated that their opinions were asked and that they were listened to. Since last May the Millard Fillmore 4-H Club has raised money to buy trail markers for the nature trail, helping to fix one of the problem areas that they saw. They have also taken a kayak/canoe trip up the Inlet and are committed this year to learning more about the history of the Owasco Flats and Cascade. No doubt, these youth are pleased to be partners in spreading the word about the gem that we have in this natural area.

YOUTH AND ADULTS PARTNER TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY

What started last Spring as a conversation about potential ways that youth could help a the local food pantry, ended in a team of members from Rotary, 4-H and FFA growing over $300 worth of produce for the Moravia food pantry.

Moravia is a small town located in the Fingerlakes area of New York state, at the southern end of Owasco Lake, and 19 miles north of Cornell University. While farmland is prevalent, not everyone grows their own food. And, at a time when everything is expensive, the fear was that some families would not be able to afford to put nutritious, locally grown, fresh vegetables on their dinner table.

This effort went from conversation to planning stage quickly for a variety of reasons: the Rotary Club had an interest in community gardening to serve the local food pantry, the Millard Fillmore 4-H Club was actively involved in gardening and service projects, and the Moravia FFA annually planned and planted six raised bed gardens behind the high school for the purpose of education. During the summer months, while school is out the gardens were typically not tended to and any food produced was not harvested. The opportunity seemed obvious.

Partnering to achieve the goals of providing families with local, fresh vegetables was a relatively simple process. FFA agreed to plan and plant the gardens, with the help of 4-H youth. Based on the needs expressed by the food pantry – the group grew tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers. Rotary and 4-H took care of the plants during the summer months, bringing harvested vegetables to the food pantry for distribution. And FFA members, as a part of the their role with the demonstration gardens, put the beds to rest at the end of the growing season.

In order to keep a few common supplies handy and dry, the youth also installed a mailbox in the garden. The mailbox contained plastic grocery bags for collecting harvested vegetables and a notebook for recording observations as well as the quantity of produce harvested. Rotary also donated a rain-barrel to ensure an easily accessible supply of water.

A schedule for work throughout the summer was established and regularly distributed by e-mail (as a reminder). With so many participants involved, no one group, family or member was required to put in an overwhelming amount of energy. And, during mid growing season – when the weeds were overtaking the beds - it was decided that mulching the gardens with grass would reduce the amount of weeding and watering necessary and add to the organic matter in the soil. Comments in the notebook documented the success and appreciation for this change.

The first year’s experience was a good one for all of the partners. And, most importantly, recipients of fresh foods were delighted. There is talk of expanding the raised bed gardens next year, installing a compost unit and increasing the height and weight capacity of the tomato stakes. There is also a plan to further increase awareness about hunger and further promote the effort so that the rest of the community contributes by “growing a row for the hungry”.

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