Concord Junior Farmers 4-H Club raises $4,000 for 4-H Extension Support Committee

During the past year, the members and advisers of the Concord Junior Farmers 4-H Club began to evaluate how they could better sell their candy bars during the annual 4-H fund-raiser organized by the 4-H Committee and OSU Extension Highland County each spring.

Having several families with three to four members in the club made it a challenge to sell that many candy bars.

Gary Heaton, organizer of the Highland County Elementary Basketball League, offered the club the opportunity to manage the concession stand at the games held at the Bright Elementary gym.

This league consists of teams from not only Highland County but Adams and Brown counties as well. From that point, the planning began and progressed to a wonderful experience.

The club provided a market for its candy bars, provided concessions for basketball fans from various communities, and in turn then provided money to the 4-H Extension Support Committee to ensure the continuation of the Highland County 4-H program.

Members and advisers began planning what food and snacks they could consistently provide, food pricing, where they would purchase the food items, food safety, how they would schedule members and parents to work, and how to maintain a record of the activities.

Club members gained experience in preparing money for deposit, making change, counting inventory, pricing, experimenting with various display techniques, working together as a team, service to the community, communication skills, and promoting the 4-H program when asked questions about projects offered and the many clubs available.

Concord Junior Farmers 4-H Club had the wonderful pleasure to donate $4,000 to the 4-H Extension Support Committee as a result of this experience. The 4-H club has been in existence since 1959 and is very dedicated to the ongoing success of the 4-H program.

This was a wonderful learning experience which reflects the many projects that the 4-H program offers such as money management, food safety, leadership, poster presentations, communication, and community service to name only a few.

Concord Junior Farmers would like to thank the many members of the Adams, Brown and Highland County communities who supported us in this endeavor, Gary Heaton for the opportunity and for his support of the 4-H program, Tami Combs, Kathy Bruynis, Dave Dugan and Amy Habig of OSU Extension Highland County and Jeff Parry and the 4-H Extension Support Committee for their guidance and support as well.

Plans are already under way for the upcoming basketball season which begins in November. Members are living up to the 4-H Motto, "To Make the Best Better."

(Courtesy of Tami Combs)