W) Lancaster farming, Saturday. Oct 9 1976
Jay
200
Lancaster, works in the
vegetable garden.
Jim Stauff
Weaver Road,
holds the blu
scrapbook w r
compiled a.
reporter for the
displayed
Achievement Day.
By SALLY BAIR
Feature Writer
4-H Club Week offers an opportunity to applaud 4-
H’ers and 4-H volunteer leaders for the work they do
throughout the year. While projects are completed for
this year, club activities continue and the 4-H beat goes
on.
An active, progressive 4-H club does not just happen.
A lot of hard work is involved in getting a 4-H club
organized and making sure projects are carried
through from start to finish.
The Penn Manor Community 4-H Club is a club which
symbolizes the “new 4-H” and meets members’ needs
through a good organizational structure.
Two years ago the club had 40 members; in 1976 it
had over 90 members. Its projects this year ranged
from the traditional sewing and cooking to beekeeping
and electronics.
The dynamic leader most responsible for the Penn
Manor Club’s outstanding growth is Mrs. J. Clayton
Charles, Lancaster R 2. While Mrs. Charles is modest
in taking credit for successes, she recognizes that
organization plays a big part in keeping a club running
smoothly. She says quite matter-of-factly, “I’m an
organized person ”
Mrs. Charles has been a leader for just three years,
and for the past two years has been serving as the
organizational leader of the community club; that is,
the one responsible for the overall operation pf the, 4-H
club. She willingly shared the blueprint Which has
worked for her club, but admits that each year some
things are changed to see how they work out.
% - *v
o n
Penn Manor cfwb is a
symbol of 'new 4-H'
V' , sf/ 'W
Dorothy Charles’ organization begins long before the
first 4-H’er signs up on the enrollemnt sheet in March.
Before the first meeting of the year, Mrs. Charles has
already contacted leaders and has arranged which
projects will be offered. This is done in consulatation
with the leaders and with older 4-H’ers. Mrs. Charles
said, “They need to have input because they have ideas
worth listening to.”
How do you find leaders for the wide range of
proejcts offered in today’s community clubs’ Mrs.
Charles said, “I just heard of interest among the neigh
borhood. I got on the phone and one person would tell
me to try another and I just kept going until I got
them ”
Mrs. Charles said it is important to have plenty of
leaders, because they must keep members interested,
especially where parents are not solidly behind the
members. She said, “Some are going to be lost from 4-
H, but you can’t be discouraged by that because there
are so many good ones.”
<<
Homestead
Notes
She said they try to use 4-H teen leaders as much as
possible in the club, and added, “I hope to have more in
the future, but this doesn’t happen overnight."
In the Penn Manor 4-H club, leaders are strongly
encouraged to go to the extension-sponsored 4-H leader
training sessions. “They can always leam in leader
ship and it really gets you warmed up to 4-H when you
attend a training meeting,” Mrs. Charles said.
So now that the leaders are signed up and ready to
go, how do you get 4-H’ers? Mrs. Charles said her club
distributes letters throughout the elmentary schools in
the area they wish to cover. She said these letters begin
at the fourth grade, which means some of the younger
eligible kids are missed. She said, however, if they
leam about it and are really interested, they are
welcomed into the club. This year the Penn Manor 4-H
club included the Millersville Borough in their letter
area, and they attracted a large number of borough
youth to the club.
This initial letter, Mrs. Charles explains, tells what 4-
H is and invites interested persons to the
organizational meeting. This first meeting is an im
portant one because she tells more specifically what 4-
H is all about, the experiences it offers and the
responsibilities it entails. Then the project leaders tell
about their special areas of interest after which
prospective members divide into smaller groups and
the 4-H’ers can learn exactly what the projects involve.
Mrs. Charles said, “We allow more than one project
per child, but we discourage it. We do emphasize the
(Continued on Page 51|
Rohrer Road, Mountville,
holds one of the many
jams and jellies she made
during her project.
r, 345
Lancaster,
his ex-
h his
beekeeping project. Jay
is vice president of the
Penn Manor 4-H Club.
441