First week in October is National 4-H Week

The first week in October is National 4-H Week. 4-H is America’s largest youth development organization, empowering nearly six million young people across the U.S. with the skills to lead for a lifetime. 4-H provides kids with the opportunity to complete hands-on projects in areas like health, science, agriculture and citizenship, in a positive environment where they receive guidance from adult mentors and are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles.

In September of 2016, South 40 Libby 4-H was revived by a few parents and their children. Officer elections were held and the group started having monthly meetings. The newly elected President, Skye Anderson and Vice President Sidney Rusdal ran monthly meetings, Treasurer Casey Rusdal reported on the financial status of the group, and Secretary Katelyn Huff took minutes at each meeting. Current Libby 4-H has 13 members and projects include poultry, horse, rabbit and small engine repair. For Libby 4-H’s first service project, members decorated cookies and made Christmas ornaments which were delivered to Lodge of Love residents. Children also sang Christmas carols for the residents. The second service project was spring cleaning at the Libby Senior Center which involved sweeping sidewalks, raking, and washing windows to beautify the local Senior Center. Children have also enjoyed fun activities such as roller skating and fundraising with a drink booth at the Kootenai River Stampede. Upcoming projects include making license plate stars to sell at the Troy craft fair in December. Some of the 4-H members participated in County Congress, Jr. Fair and the Lincoln County Fair to complete their projects for the year.

South 40 Libby 4-H is looking for new members to join for the new year which starts in October 2017. Monthly meetings will be held at Central School on second Tuesdays of the month at 6:30 p.m. Libby 4-H is also looking for adult mentors to serve as project leaders. For a list of potential projects, please visit www.montana4H.org.

For more information, please contact Christy Rusdal at 406-493-2516 or Keeli Anderson at 406-293-1976 or check out South 40 4-H Club on Facebook.