On Saturday (4/17) the Meado-Larks 4-H Club converged on the upper parking lot at Skyline United Methodist Church. The members and their families cleaned up the debris and leaves around the parking lot, mulched the playground, stained the picnic tables and benches and mended the fence as one of their service projects for the year. A job well done.
Do you love the outdoors? Do you want to get outside and hike the Delaware State Parks Trail Challenge? Do you want to learn more about the animal and plant life around you? If you answered yes to these questions, then this club is for you. Join the New Castle County Outdoor Adventures Club. This is a county wide club open to all NCC 4-H’ers ages 8 and older.
The first meeting will be held at Lums Pond State Park April 11 at 1 PM. Meeting location will be sent after registration.
Stump Corner is hosting Archery project meetings in May. These meetings are for 4-H members ages 8-19. Please keep a look out for more information including dates, times, and location.
Register here: http://www.udel.edu/008232 to be notified when dates are set.
December:
At today’s meeting, we had an exciting activity planned. Before the meeting, Mrs. Schaffer gave us all black canvases, a selection of paints, and paintbrushes. But before we could use anything
we went over some old and new business. Two of our members, Elijah and Stacy went to St. Paul’s church and presented them with a check funded by money that the club had raised to support them. After we thanked and congratulated them, we started on our activity. Mrs. Schaffer found an online tutorial on how to paint a magical snowman. After some technical difficulties,
we were able to start painting, and everyone had such a fun time! The video was very descriptive so it was easy to follow along and make our canvases come to life. Unfortunately, my hands were covered with paint at the time so I couldn’t get a good picture of everyone’s masterpieces, but pictured below is my finished product.
January:
At today’s meeting, we had limited time so we quickly went through old business then moved on to our activity. We did a scavenger hunt where we had to find different things related to 4-H throughout our home. For example, we had to find a green marker, a piece of paper, and even something with the 4-H logo on it. We weren’t keeping score, so everyone was a winner at the end! After our game, we went over when our next meeting would be and then said good night.
-Daisy Timney, Club Reporter
The 4-H Culinary Club is celebrating their one-year anniversary. When we are able to be in person, we meet at the Route 9 Library Innovation Center. Now, we gather our ingredients and tools and prepare the recipes together in our own kitchens connected through Zoom. In September, we began using 4-H Cooking 201 as our source of inspiration. During the month of November, we focused on making recipes using pumpkin. One club member, Francesca, grew, cleaned, and pureed the pumpkin she used in the recipes – her pumpkin pie is pictured.
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Ruby’s grandmother told us “she absolutely LOVES coming over Wed nights to cook/bake! Thanks so much for that! Her mom and great-grandmother aren’t sorry about that either, I can tell you! They’re always eagerly awaiting the results – for taste testing, of course! I just wanted to say how thankful we all are for this opportunity.”
In December, every week a member led the class and demonstrated their favorite Christmas cookie recipes. Many of these recipes had a memory associated with them. All the cookies were delicious, and we could not pick a favorite.
New members are welcome, we accept youth between the ages of 8 and 13. If you have a desire to learn to bake or cook or have a passion for trying new recipes, please contact Ms. Jenny at jtrunfio@udel.edu. We will resume our weekly meetings on Wednesday, January 6.
At today’s meeting, we started off by discussing healthy living with a healthy snack. Healthy living is important for your mind and body because if you aren’t putting in good food, then you aren’t getting good energy out. After talking about healthy foods and healthy lives, we started planning for the pumpkin decorating contest! In the photo above you can see Mrs. Shaffer depicting all the fun ways to use stuffing which included; making a Santa pumpkin, using it as crazy hair, adding eyes and making it a ghost, or even as a cottontail for a bunny pumpkin! As some finishing business, we had an update about our canned food drive and so far we have collected 91 cans to donate!
– Daisy Timney, Club Reporter
Porter Gang has been a general interest club in New Castle County since 1965. It was founded by Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Moore, who lived on Porter Road in Bear-hence the name “Porter Gang”. Over the years, our club members have participated in livestock, foods, clothing, woodworking, fishing, and environmental projects, as well as camping trips to Mallard Lodge, County and State camps, State fair, demonstrations, Public Speaking, and many other project areas and activities.
Our members have collected canned goods, gloves and hats for the needy, packaged boxes for the Seaman in the Port of Wilmington at Christmas, and made pull toys for the SPCA. We like to give back and stay active in our community.
4-H is an excellent opportunity to make new friends and experience new adventures while having fun learning.
Our club welcomes new members from the ages of 5
– 18. We meet currently at the New Castle County 4-H office on the second Wednesday of each month. If interested please feel free to contact Kimberly Klair by emailing her at swimmomklair@gmail.com.
Legacy 4-H Club in Kent County was founded in 2013 by Joy Gooden Sparks’ family in her honor. What better way to honor a memory and leave a legacy than to be involved in 4-H?
Dana Sharpe (Joy’s sister) and her nieces (Sherry Kijowski, Jessica Flaherty, and Heather Coverdale) served as the club’s founding organizational leaders.
The club currently has 28 members, with ages ranging from 5-16. The club has an active “tween” leadership group, along with monthly project meetings for foods, textiles, woodworking, archery, horticulture, and goat projects. The monthly meetings are held at the home of Sherry & Mike Kijowski and focus on “themes” related to upcoming 4-H events. For example, all Legacy members came to the meetings prior to the county public speaking and demonstration events ready to orally share a “life hack” so they can receive feedback about their public speaking and demonstration skills.
Legacy 4-H Club has also been involved in a variety of community service events, such as preparing meals and bagged lunches for Code Purple, Adopt-A-Family during the holiday season, nursing home bingo visits, “Sock-tober” sock collection for the homeless, and porch demonstrations at Fifer Orchards. Legacy 4-H Club annually participates in the Kent County Basket Auction, with every member donating items to the themed basket. We’re looking forward to September when the “Baker’s Delight Basket” will be auctioned off to benefit the Delaware 4-H Foundation.
Stump Corner 4-H Club is based in Townsend Delaware. We meet the first Tuesday of the month September through June at the Immanuel United Methodist Church in Townsend. Our members are mostly from the Middletown, Odessa, Townsend, and Smyrna area, but members are welcome from across the state. We are a general 4-H club, so our members are involved in diverse project areas. We have members who work on projects in Clothing & Textiles, Foods & Nutrition, Hiking, Wildlife, Forestry, Technology/Computer Science, Sheep, Dairy, and Swine. We are always open to other interests!
We currently have members from aged 5 through 17 and always welcome new members. During our meetings, we have completed science projects, made cards for the local nursing home, programmed robots, and created edible food art.
Our members participate in the Demonstration contest, Favorite Foods, Clothing & Textiles Showcase, Jr Council, Interstate Exchange, State Camps, and Judging contests and serve as camp counselors.
Community service opportunities include a yearly park clean-up, serving meals at Our Daily Bread in Middletown, and playing games with the residents of Broad Meadow nursing home in Middletown.
Our club year starts right after Labor Day. Late September brings the Townsend Town Parade and Fair. Our club members put together a float and provide a petting zoo at the town fair for the town residents. We hold a hayride in November at one of our member’s farm. In December, we have our annual family potluck dinner and craft night. April brings Ag Day where we participate with an educational booth.And we close out the year in June with a family picnic and litter clean-up at our local park.
We are always welcoming new members. Please email jltrunfio@gmail for more information.
Lord Baltimore Helping Hands 4-H club began 65 years ago, as an offshoot from an afterschool program at Lord Baltimore Elementary School. Carlene Jones began as a parent volunteer, and when the original leader stepped down, Carlene took the reins. She began the 4H club as we know it now and continues to attend every meeting and club event!
Because Lord Baltimore Helping Hands has members from both farm and residential areas, the youth are involved in many different project areas. The youth have worked in Foods and Nutrition, Photography, Computer Science, Leadership, Community Service, Clothing and Textiles, Dance, Woodworking , Small Animals, Horse and First Aid to name a few. There have been club members who have gone to the national level and won for their projects in Horse and Photography. Members are active on local, county and state levels. There have also been opportunities in the past to participate on national (Habitat for Humanity build in Toas, NM) and world (4 years of the Bosnia-Herzegovina exchange) levels.
Presently, the club is young and small- but mighty. Our 9 members are working in a variety of project areas. Our monthly community service project is to make cards/tray favors for approximately 180 Meals on Wheels clients out of the Ocean View and Roxana CHEER centers. The club meets at the Roxana Fire Hall, typically on the 2nd Sunday of the month, from 2-4 PM. For more information, contact the club leader, Kathy DiSabatino @ 539-8485.
Wool available!
If you’re interested in doing a felting project with your club (ala the Winter Workshop), there will be wool available in the NCC Office. Please contact Maureen if interested.
Houston Cardinals 4-H Club
Houston Cardinals 4-H Club was founded in 1915 by Dewey Sapp and is known as “The First Club in the First State”. We are a traditional 4-H club with eight Cloverbuds, ages 5-8, and twenty-one regular members, ages 8-19. We meet at the Cedarfield Ruritan Club on Tub Mill Pond Road in Milford on the first Tuesday of the month. Members participate in hands- on personal growth lessons that begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by our monthly business meeting starting at 7:00 p.m.
Houston Cardinals members participate in many project areas, such as: archery, public presentations, foods and nutrition, photography, and wildlife conservation. We have become a healthy living club, promoting healthy choices in both food and lifestyles. This year we will be learning about different types of electricity.
Our club participates in the Kent County’s Litter Barrel, Window Display, and Trim a Tree Contests. Members also participate in various Judging competitions as well as the Kent County Archery Contest.
The Houston Cardinals perform community service projects that include Adopt the Highway Program, collecting and making items for pet shelters, food banks, and homeless shelters. Members make thank you cards for veterans and Christmas cards for seniors. In the spring and fall, members assist kindergarten students with crafts during at Morris Early Childhood Center’s Reading Nights.
You will often find our club’s members promoting 4-H by selling clovers at Tractor Supply in Milford during its spring and fall 4-H Fundraising Event. We volunteer at Fifer’s Orchards during their Customer Appreciation Day in August. We have seasonal craft days, where member learn how to use various types of mediums and recycled articles to create new and creative pieces of art.
Our club loves the State Fair! Houston Cardinal 4-H members first participate in transforming the ice rink into a 4-H showcase then to bringing their entries to be judged. They enjoy being participants in Archery, Judging and other fun competitions. We assist in the Delaware Farm Bureau’s food booth completing orders and making yummy milkshakes.
Houston Cardinal members often become involved in national 4-H events, as well as take part in State and Day Camp activities, thus making and growing 4-H friendships throughout the entire state of Delaware and the USA.
Being a member of the Houston Cardinal 4-H Club has made them excel not only in high school, but in college and years beyond.
MEADO-LARKS 4-H
The Meado-Larks 4-H Club is considered a “General” 4-H Club. The 4-Hers exhibit a variety of interests and therefore the leaders teach and guide in as many of those areas as they can. By using outside resources, county and state materials, as well as our leaders and junior leaders, we try to bring a variety of information. As our group has grown, our areas to cover have also expanded. We see this especially when it is time to take exhibits down to the State Fair. We often have exhibits for Foods and Nutrition, Photography, Arts and Crafts, Technology, and Pets to name a few- and there’s a call for Sewing and Wood Science as well.
The Meado-Larks 4-H Club currently has 16 members ranging from ages 8 to 18. Older Cloverbuds tend to mix in well with these ages especially since they acquire several older helpers. In recent years we have expanded our community service and have included alI ages. They work well together.
We feed the homeless at Andrew’s Place twice a year (a very popular event). Since we use the Skyline U.M. Church facilities, we have begun helping with fall clean-up and are planning to help in the spring. We also join in their mini-golf fund-raiser by planning and setting up 2 of the holes. Joining in Saturday’s round of mini-golf is just icing on the cake. This year they hope to help the blind play a round. Donating hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves to the county Christmas tree for Adopt-a-Family is an easy, but very needed donation. As Ag Day approaches, the group plans a “Make and Take” for the public.
The Meado-Larks 4-H Club likes to encourage parents to be involved. Fall brings a family barbeque / dinner. Summer brings a family evening at Woodside Creamery. They are welcome at meetings to learn along with their 4-Hers.
For more info about the Meado-Larks 4-H Club, please contact Janice Melson.
First meeting of 2019-2020 : New officers elected
September 11, 2019 was the Summit Bridge chapter’s first meeting of the new year. Today we discussed upcoming events, new and old business, and elected a new panel of officers for the new year. The new 2019-2020 officers are the following:
President: Nicholas Ruggeri
Co-Vice Presidents: Emerson Hickey and Jacob Green
Secretary: Gianna Ruggeri
Treasurer: Elijah Roberts
Reporter: Micaela Pennachi
Community service officers: Chase Pugh and Owen Hickey
Healthy living officers: Stacy Robinson and Benjamin Carter
Summit Bridge 4-H Chapter Window display
A handful of members gathered at Mrs. Brenda’s house to collaborate and design our window display which was displayed at Southern States. The saying the group decided on was “Fall in to 4-H”.
With this theme we had a hayride that moved around in a circle on a track. We also had a tree with fall colored leaves and the branches had different examples of opportunities that are available with 4-H.
October 9 Campfire and Second Meeting at the Hickey’s
Today’s meeting was led by the new officers for 2019-2020. We discussed new and old business, shared about past events such as awards, window display, and the Light the Night Walk at A.I. DuPont Children’s Hospital. We then talked about fundraising ideas, including creating a veterans and 4-H design to put on magnets and/or stickers and sell them at local stores. This would benefit both our Summit Bridge 4-H chapter and the soldiers in the military by splitting the profit. After the meeting was adjourned, we roasted marshmallows, played games, and had a pumpkin relay race.
Micaela Pennachi (Reporter)
OCTOBER CLUB REPORT
New officers were elected at the September meeting. They are:
Porter Gang would like to thank First State Montessori Academy for hosting the club’s window display during National 4-H Week. The theme was, “Something to Crow About.”
Our club is proud to support the quarter auction to benefit the New Castle County 4H Leaders Association and Exchange Group. The club donated a coffee basket and a family fun basket.
— Submitted by Max Lewandowski, Reporter
For our fall meetings, we have taken pictures of falling marbles, made fall wreaths, and are working on a wooden game.
The Clover Quest club was called to order by president Katrice Wasgatt on Friday,
October 15 for a fun and fulfilling meeting. Clubbers began by saying the Pledge of Allegiance
and the 4-H Pledge and observing the moment of silence. Secretary Jade Wasgatt took roll and
read the September minutes. Ms. Blaky, club leader, announced new business, and the club got
to work!
The club was working to donate to an organization called Stockings for Soldiers, which
sends Christmas stockings to deployed soldiers overseas. Clubbers formed two assembly lines to
make 60 packs of Snowman Soup. The packs were filled with hot cocoa packets, candy canes,
Hershey kisses, marshmallows, and an encouraging note. Next, clubbers worked together to
make cards for service members, using the fronts of old Christmas cards on red and green paper.
After this wintery activity, the club enjoyed a healthy fall snack of pumpkin muffins, while
watching a presentation on the anatomy of a pumpkin. The cross-section of a pumpkin was
displayed, while Jade demonstrated the various parts of this autumnal fruit. The science proved
to be very interesting!
Then Clover Quest played a hilarious game called “Elephant Walk”. Each clubber had
an apple in a stocking, which was then put on their head. Participants had to swing their
“trunks” to knock another apple off of an overturned cup on the floor. This fun game had
everyone cracking up!
To finish the meeting, clubbers filled out the “4-H O’Meter”, filling in head, heart, hands,
and health. Another successful meeting for Clover Quest 4-H!
On the evening of October 24th, Clover Quest partnered with the Meado-Larks to
volunteer at Stockings for Soldiers. The Newark Post Office generously donated stocking
stuffers that filled two shopping carts. Blaky, Katrice, and Jade Wasgatt from Clover Quest,
along with Lisa, Ryan, and Natalie Davis, Jenn and Avery Ruebush and a friend, and Stephanie
and Tobi Tang from the Meado-Larks club, arrived at Stockings for Soldiers on the 24th to drop
off their donations, and help prepare the stockings and stocking stuffers. At one station,
stockings that had been sewn by volunteers were unpacked from bags and laid out on a table.
Another station was dedicated to carefully writing the soldiers’ names in glue and glitter. Some
volunteers folded blankets and tied bows on them, and others made cards. The regular
volunteers excitedly told the 4-H members about the loud, bustling atmosphere during the nights
that the stockings are stuffed. Last year, they sent stockings to 10,000 soldiers. The Clover
Quest and Meado-Larks clubs enjoyed participating in such a lively endeavor to show gratitude
to soldiers on Christmas.
Rossakatum is a general 4-H club that meets the 2nd Thursday of the month from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. Sunday is family day and we try not to have club activities.
Our members are involved in the following areas. Citizenship, Leadership, Cooking, Sewing, Photography, Gardening, Beef, Poultry, Goats, Rabbits, Swine, and Arts and Crafts.
We have an annual luncheon for the older individuals in our community. We entertain the residents of our local nursing home with caroling during the Christmas season. We also adopt and shop for residents at Christmastime. We also make seasonal decorations for the nursing home.
We enter a float in the Christmas parade, alternating between Delmar and Laurel. We plan to work at the Operation Christmas Child distribution center as well as collecting items for the shoe boxes.
Contacts:
Gail Tipton – 302-228-2874
Kara Short – 302-875-9479
Let us know what great things your club has been up to! We’ll post it here each month for everyone to see. What did you do at your last meeting? What have you learned? What service projects are you working on?
Email Serena by the 25th of each month, and she’ll add to this section of the newsletter. Let’s fill it with 4-H club activities!
Camp FRESH (Fresh Resources Everyone Should Have) 4-H Club held our first meeting on September 16, 2019.
We elected officers:
Mrs. Betsy Morris from New Castle County 4-H led us in two activities: Identifying Cooking equipment and a Cooking Terms matching game.
Finally, we ended the night making apple nachos which consisted of apples, raisins, cinnamon, yogurt and other delicious and healthy toppings.
Our next meeting is October 21 and the topic will be mindfulness.
Submitted by Ranada Brown, Reporter
There is something for everyone and every interest in the Summit Bridge 4-H Club.
The club is considered a “general interest” 4-H club and because of that, our members have many different interests and participate in all sorts of 4-H projects ranging from Arts and Crafts, to animal projects such as Sheep, Swine and Dairy, shooting sports like Archery, Foods and Nutrition, Leadership, Robotics and Photography. Our monthly club meetings always include some type of program whether it is a guest speaker or some hands-on fun.
We have approximately 25 members, ranging from 5 to 18 years old. Our 4-H’ers are involved in a wide variety of 4-H competitions and events each year, which keeps us all very busy in 4-H between meetings. Some of the events and competitions we participate in are Public Speaking, Demonstrations, Favorite Foods, Archery Competitions, Photography judging, Livestock Shows, county and state camping programs, Delaware State Fair, National 4-H Conference, National 4-H Congress, and National 4-H Summits- just to name a few.
In addition, we are very involved in our community through various service projects. Last year, we collected canned food for Neighborhood House as well as the Food Bank of Delaware, volunteered for Wreaths Across America (and the Travis Mansion Foundation), rang the Salvation Army Christmas bell, sponsored a family for Adopt-a-family, volunteered at the Delaware SPCA, hosted a booth at Ag Day at the University of Delaware, hosted a booth at May Day in Odessa and organized a “work night” at Summit United Methodist Church to mulch the church property.
Our club members have also traveled to Kansas, Colorado, Montana and Minnesota with the NCC 4-H Exchange Group. This group is for any teen in NCC 4-H who is interested in travelling to other states to experience what 4-H is like there. The following year, we invite those 4-Hers to come see all of what Delaware has to offer.
We have had members interviewed by local radio stations, serve on National 4-H planning committees and even spent a day with Delaware native and actress, Aubrey Plaza! As you might imagine, we stay busy year-round with all of our activities.
Our club welcomes new members between the ages of 5 and 18 to any of our meetings, which are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at the Summit United Methodist Church.
4-H is an excellent way to meet new people, participate in new adventures and have fun learning along the way!
If you are interested or would like to learn more about the Summit Bridge Club, please contact Brenda Shaffer by e-mailing her at brendashaffer@verizon.net.
