G2—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, March 29,1980
Ruth Akers patterns her days around 4-H activities
BY SUSAN KAUFFMAN
Staff Correspondent
As the end of the school year nears, and
young people look toward a summer full of
activities, many of the youth in the
southern most portion of Lancaster County
will plan work on various 4-H projects
ranging from capons to table lamps. As
with every youth centered activity, there
are several dedicated adults who are
willing to put time and talent into
organizing and overseeing the activities.
One such individual is Ruth Akers from
Quarryville.
For the past seven years Ruth has been a
4-H leader in the sewing club and she has
been Southern Lancaster County Com
munity Club organizational leader for six
of those years.
Over the last few Spring and Summer
seasons Ruth has enrolled as many as over
one hundred young people m the nine or
ten projects offered by the community 4-H
club. Sewing, cooking and crafts are the
three most popular projects according to
recent enrollment trends, Ruth pointed
out.
Mrs. Akers has sewn not only for her
family, but for many others for years, and
her natural interest in sewing led her to
help with the first sewing 4-H dub seven
years ago. The next year she undertook
the time consuming task-of organizing the
various dubs, finding leaders and setting
up community wide 4-H activities.
About one-hundred children and young
adults from the ages of eight to nineteen
turn out each Spring to learn more about a
previously taken project or to learn about
something entirely new to them.
The swine dub will have a new leader
this year, Richard Meyers. The capon and
strawberry projects will be supervised as
in recent years by Clyde Aument. Field
corn and sweet corn projects will be under
the direction of Dennis Allen, Kirkwood.
Handiman dub, a popular project in
volving wood-working skills, will have a
twelve year minimum age limit so that the
leader, John Ramsey, can handle the
workload and scheduling without devoting
several nights out of each week to the 4-H
projects. Ruth says she is working hard to
find someone in the area who has fools and
interest in woodworking with younger
children so that the ones who are looking
forward to taking the handiman project
and are less than twelve years old will not
be disappointed.
Cake decorating was a new project for
file Solanco Community Club last year
when Ruth recruited two women - Eleanor
DeLong and Vickie LeFever - to take the
dub. Eleanor has the club meet at her
home with Vicki assisting her. This club
also has a twelve year age minimum.
Crafts, a popular project at present, will
be conducted by Labertha Tindall again
this year. Donna Kreider will again work
with the cooking projects. The sewing
club, which generally includes over fifty
girls will be in Ruth’s hands as she is
assisted by fourteen helpers. The first year
sewers make hand sewn projects such as
slippers and ponchos from wash cloths and
ready-made dry goods using basic joining
techniques. They also learn to sew on three
kinds of buttons.
- The Second year projects are patchwork
skirts with zippers. Third year sewers
make sleeveless dress or jumpers with
facings. Fourth year projects include set
in sleeves and fifth through seventh year
projects may be whatever the member
wishes to select with supervision from the
leader.
The first year girls meet at the high
school to sew on machines in the home
economics department under the super
vision of several helpers and Ruth. The
older girls often meet in the homes of
helpers to complete their projects before
club round-up and judging in August. The
girls are encouraged to participate uv '
County Dress Revue that month in ad
dition to having their garments judged
within the community club.
Ruth explained that the Solanco Club
should probably be split into two clubs.
The group now covers a large
geographical territory ranging from
Willow Street south tc the Maryland Line
and east to Kirkwood. Having a smaller
group of members to work with at a time
would benefit the individual member,
Ruth added.
Her involvement in 4-H in the past few
years has given her the opportunity to see
several changes occunng in the com-*
mumty. First Ruth finds that, although
there has been a considerable amount of
residential building and many people have
moved into the area who are not farm
families, these families and their children
are not seeking out 4-H projects. Oc
casionally, she says, a parent will call her
who has been in the area for a year or two
and inquire about a 4-H project for his or
her child, but not very many do.
One aspect of the economy, the rising
cost in gas,.may be a noticeable factor in 4-
H as well as other organizations’ par;
ticipation. “Parents are not taking their
children everywhere the way they did at
one time. They stay home more now than
before,” she explained. If the community
club were divided into two clubs, the
distance members would have to travel
could be decreased, she reasoned.
Perhaps because of the increased costs
of transportation, Ruth suspects that the
decline in activity participation has
resulted. “At one time we held club
meeting from March through to Christ
mas,” she said. “Last year we planned
roller skating parties, swimming parties
at the Legion Park Pool, and a picnic for
the family. The attendance was so
' disappointing at all these functions that we
are seriously considering holding only one
or two community club functions this
year,” she stated.
When talking with extension leader
Nancy Meyers, she found that the Solanco
Club was not alone in this respect. A trend
seems to have developed where parents
are much more restrictive in all the-
“running” that they were accustomed to
doing in the past.
A primary concern that Ruth has is the
need for more adults to take part in the
leadership roles. “We could offer more
clubs and handle many more children if we
just had more leaders,” she lamented.
“I’d especially like to find someone who is
interested in being a leader who has been a
4-H member herself,” Ruth explained.
“They already know what the program is
all about. I did not go to 4-H when I was
young so it was all new to me,” she added.
One leader who was schooled in the 4-H
program as a young person and who is
interested in carrying omts traditions and
principles for the present members is
Sharon Klemz, Little Britain. Next year
she will be the community club -
organizational leader. Ruth will continue
as the sewing club leader and turn the
organizing over to Sharon. Ruth explains,
“It takes a lot of time on the phone getting
new helpers and leaders each year and
talking things over with Nancy Meyers,
the extension agent.”
This year the beginning mght for the
community club will include displays of
the various club projects and allow time
for parents and members to ask questions
about the projects and to then select the
one or ones they wish to complete this
Summer. “If the parents back the
members it works better,” Ruth said.
Without adult leaders and parent interest
and support the 4-H program would beiar
less effective.
Ruth is the wife of Curt Akers, mother of
three girls and one son now married and
working with his father on their dairy farm
near Mechanic Grove south of Quarryville.
While the children were little, Ruth said
she stayed at home on the farm and took
care of the children and helped with the
work. After the children were older and all
but the youngest out of elementary school,
Ruth started working with the 4-H
program in addition to supporting the
programs, especially musical, in her
church.
She jomed the Farm Women Society #3l
and has in the past few years been in
creasingly more involved with Inter-State
Milk Producers’ functions since her
husband was elected director. She also
works with the Solanco Fair Association in
the sewing judging and display-depart
ment. She sees 4-H as a way to teach basic
skills, leadership and responsibility to all
young people not just those from farm
families
Vtomesfead
c H/eips
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Ruth has always enjoyed sewing, not only for her family which includes thre
daughters and one son, but also for many other people in the Quarryville are.
Her natural talent in sewing led her to help as a leader for the sewing projed
wherrtheclub began seven years ago. The next year she became organization;
leader, a job she has done for the last six years.
As part of her job as
club
leader, Ruth spends lots
of time at her desk.
Her job as sewing
leader keeps Ruth busy
on the phone.