Lee County Canned Food Drive!

During the months of November and December, Lee County's 4-H group hosted a canned food drive for the holidays.  With the combined help of the individual 4-H clubs, we were very successful in the amount of participation that the county gave and through collective efforts we were able to help those in need.  We teamed up with Oak Hammock Middle School in Fort Myers, FL to provide enough nonperishable food to feed fifteen families for a few solid months and make their holiday season a little brighter.  We had many families, 4-H members and Riverdale High School Spanish Honor Society kids there to help carry, sort and box the food on December 18, 2011.  There was also a generous donation that allowed the families to receive a turkey and presents for their children.  We want to continue working with Oak Hammock Middle School so that next year we will be able to bring even more smiles to the faces of the needy in our community.

Written by a Lee county 4-Her!

Jefferson County 4-H Service!

On January 14th 2012 Jefferson County 4-H Council Members assisted the Monticello City Council Members in the Rooster Town Clean-Up by picking up trash in the Rooster Town Area. 

Multi-State Day of Sevice

As part of the “Youth Against Poverty” State Project initiative, Florida 4-H is hosting a multi-state 4-H Day of Service encouraging 4-H members across Florida and the nation to come together and take part in service projects that tie into helping out with youth against poverty in their community, country, and our world.

For more information visit: www.florida4h.org à click on Youth à State Council à Click on State Council Projects!

Lee County 4-H Trail Blazers club taking the initiative!

The Lee County 4-H Trail Blazers club recently took part in the “Youth against Poverty” Initiative, a multi-state 4-H Day of Service Project. The 4-H Trail Blazers built raised garden beds and planted vegetables for urban and underprivileged youth at a local Preschool in Fort Myers. The vegetables grown from these gardens will be the only fresh produce some of these youngsters have available to them. In addition to planting a nutritiousgarden, the Trail Blazers pulled weeds and spruced up the onsite preschool and adjacent local Soup Kitchen with new flowers, bushes and mulch. The new landscaping will bring a fresh look and offer hope and cheer to those most affected by poverty in our community. By joining together with other 4-Her’s across the state and country we hope to make an impact on our local community. The 4-H Trail Blazers would like to thank Forestry Resources of Fort Myers for their generous support of this project.

District 13 Broward Outreach Center Report

District 13 Broward Outreach Center Report

By: Emily Jo Freeman

            On November 22, 2011 fifteen members of the 4-H District 13 Council volunteered at the Broward outreach center to feed people who don’t have as much food. I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into this, I had never done something like this before. It was a great experience to be able to help fight poverty. When we first arrived we had to get dressed up in a plastic apron, gloves, and a hair net, for sanitary reasons. I wasn’t too much of a fan of this. My pride was soon swallowed after seeing the reactions of people receiving the food. Some of us who volunteered helped clean tables, others served salad and bread, while still others handed out drinks or trays of food. We also had someone passing out Thanksgiving cards that the Council made the meeting prior. I helped by passing out the trays of food to the people sitting at the tables. We fed them in two shifts:  the first was women and families, while the second was only men. In all about 100 or so people showed up There were mothers and children who typically don’t have very much to eat, but thanks to this wonderful program get to have a meal. One woman stood out to me, while most people would take the food and seem to just savor every bite; I would watch as this woman received her tray, turn around, and in the next second, she was finished. I remember passing out the plates and thinking to myself, “How would I deal with this if I were in their shoes?” It really made me think about how blessed I am to be able to eat a meal, or have a snack whenever I want. An experience that I didn’t know how to react to, ended up being one that has made me extremely thankful.

What is 4-H Youth Against Poverty?

The "Youth Against Poverty" state project is a movement recognizing
a very serious problem involving teens and children in our state and across
the country. Statistics taken in 2009, state that Florida has a 21% poverty
rate in children and teens. That is roughly 852,000 people. It's the
responsibility of our youth to recognize, educate, and take the opportunity
to solve this growing problem. By creating this project we are trying to
inspire youth to take action against the devastating living conditions of
those less fortunate within our communities. The necessity of this action
has become more apparent over the past few years. It is for this reason
that our main goal is to empower youth to get their clubs and their
communities heavily involved. We hope that with this project we can
impact communities and bring hope back into the lives of those affected by
poverty.