Western Kings 4-H Club focuses on community service
/by Jacob Hirtle
Located in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, the Western Kings 4-H Club began as one of the many agriculture/homemaking clubs in the early 1930s. Today, the club is one of five 4-H clubs in Kings County.
Our club has approximately 75 members, 20 leaders, and four junior leaders. The 2020 executive members are president Kathryn Spicer, vice-president Emilee Hirtle, secretary Leah Newcombe, treasurer Thalia Tobin, and me as club reporter. We’ve led monthly general meetings at the Somerset and District Elementary School.
Our club’s general leader Mary Magee has been a 4-H leader for more than 40 years, beginning as a crafts project leader. She is also the first Nova Scotia 4-H leader to serve as president of the Canadian 4-H Council, and she encourages all members to actively participate in all that the 4-H program has to offer, especially public speaking.
Western Kings is proud to have had many club members over the years successfully represent Kings County and the Valley region at the public speaking competitions held each year during the 4-H Weekend in Bible Hill. My sister Emilee and I were the 2019 top senior team demonstration winners with our demonstration titled “Keep Calm and Paint On.”
Western Kings members take part in a variety of livestock and life skills projects, having fun learning new skills, making friends, learning about good sportsmanship, and building citizenship and leadership skills while following the 4-H motto “learn to do by doing.”
A favourite club activity each spring is woodsmen. The club has a large turnout of members interested in trying their hand at cutting cookies with the pulp and crosscut saws, and everyone’s favourite event, the water boil. This is likely one of the only times you’ll hear leaders and parents encourage members to play with matches as they practise striking them off any available surface.
Our members have also learned the importance of community service as they act on the 4-H pledge to pledge their hands to larger service.
Each year, Western Kings members organize and carry out a roadside garbage cleanup, collect donations for the local food bank, support a local health and wellness expo with a 4-H information booth, deliver homemade baked goods on Show Your 4-H Colours Day to the local radio station as a thank you for their support, and provide small livestock for community event petting zoos. We also spend many hours serving at community barbecues and dinners, such as the Valley Hospice Foundation Holiday Gala. In fact, club member Jackson VanderHeide’s grandparents donated official Western Kings 4-H Club aprons for club members to wear while serving at functions.
Cake decorating project members spend time annually showcasing their creativity and skills by baking and decorating cakes in support of the Valley Regional Hospital Foundation’s cake and dessert auction. Last year, they helped purchase a portable digital X-ray machine. These members have also visited the veterans unit at the Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Middleton to do a cake decorating demonstration with veterans.
Western Kings also recently teamed up with members of the Clean Annapolis River Project to donate and install information signage about freshwater turtles and their habitat alongside the watershed.
Like many other clubs, Western Kings is no stranger to fundraising. Our main fundraisers are selling ADL cheese every other month and running an ice cream treat booth each summer during our Kings County Joint Achievement Days. Money raised from these fundraisers helps with registration fees and programming. Members also participate in the Nova Scotia 4-H provincial chocolate bar campaign that supports provincial scholarships, programs, and awards. Our club’s very own Bailey Justason has been one of the top chocolate bar sellers during the past few years.
Our members are encouraged to apply for scholarships. Each year, 4-H Nova Scotia offers two $1,000 entrance scholarships to members enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution. Recipients are chosen based on their 4-H experience, significant 4-H awards they’ve received, school and community involvement, and work experience. One of the deserving members chosen for the 2020 4-H Nova Scotia Scholarship was Sophia Clarke. She’s been a very active member of Western Kings for 11 years.
Travel is another exciting part of the 4-H program. Each year, Western Kings members apply for the opportunity to attend provincial, national, and global 4-H conferences, tours, and trips. We’ve had many winners, including Novalea Sears and me. We were selected from our club, along with eight other members from across the province, to participate in the Kevin Grant Tour.
While our 4-H year may not have gone as planned with many of our events and meetings cancelled, most members have taken this time to work on their 4-H projects or learn about a new one and are looking forward to the day when we can spend time with our 4-H family again.
(Jacob Hirtle is a senior member and club reporter with the Western Kings 4-H Club. He has been a 4-H member for six years, having completed the exploring 4-H, miniature horse, light horse, and shooting sports projects.)
