By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
When more than 600 volunteers showed up on Sunday to lend a hand at the first event of its kind for Wood County 4-H, the results were stunning.
Wood County 4-H Hands to Larger Service Day was about building 30 beds for area youth, making hundreds of toys and treats for dogs at local shelters, stuffing stacks and stacks of pillows for hospice patients, preparing soup packages to feed 10,000 people and so much more.
Most of the participants were 4-H members, their families and club advisors, with a handful of community members who chose to be part of the service event. Everyone was there to contribute to the 4-H pledge that includes, “I pledge my hands to larger service for my club, my community, my country, and my world.”
The projects for the day covered all those bases thanks to the joint effort of Wood County 4-H, Wood County Clover Legacy Foundation and other local nonprofits.
Many 4-H’ers were there to represent their clubs and lend their hands to help others.
“I wanted to help to be part of something bigger,” said Olivia Zieman, a member of the Wood County Junior Fair Board and Rough Riders 4-H Club. She was helping at the dog toy station, showing the overflow crowd how to braid T-shirt strips into a dog toy.
More than 100 T-shirts were used for the materials to make the dog toys, and cardboard paper towel rolls were fashioned and filled with dog treats all for local dog shelters.
Wearing her heart on her sleeve for helping dogs, Mia Aust, Hearts and Hands 4-H Club, and her family chose to start at the dog toys station. “I wanted to bring some joy to those dogs that don’t have anyone to play with or who are sitting alone at a shelter,” she said.
From a single idea to a day of service
The Hands to Larger Service event started with a single idea from Karen Kotula, Ohio State 4-H Hall of Fame member and 25-year adviser for Dowling Stitch, Stir and Stock 4-H Club. One of her goals as a club adviser is to encourage her members to give back now with the hope they will continue to give back as adults.
“Our club has done a slew of different community service projects, but a year ago, we went to a Let’s Build Beds event at Stony Ridge,” she said. The nonprofit involves community organizations to help prepare bed parts that are then provided to youths in the region who don’t have their own beds. The organization has provided more than 6,000 beds to local kids
“Some of the kids and their parents were apprehensive about using routers, drills and sanders,” she said. But Let’s Build founders Michael and Shawna Horvath and Dan Pellizzari made the experience accessible even to the smallest Clover Bud members, and eye-opening for everyone.
“At our next club meeting, the kids just kept chatting about it,” she said. “I asked them how many beds they had slept in, like at their home, their grandma’s or in a camper. And I reminded them, the kids who will get the Let’s Build Beds have had none.”
The impact was overwhelming. Kotula was so impressed with the mission of the organization that she has become a frequent participant and a regular contributor of quilts and other bedding that are provided when the beds are delivered.
When she talked at a Wood County Clover Legacy Foundation meeting about involving other 4-H club in building beds, the idea mushroomed into the community-wide day of service. An anonymous donor stepped in to help fund the concept that would provide a day of service opportunities and highlight how 4-H youth give back to their communities and beyond.
“The kids are going to walk away from the event talking about it, especially if they’ve never done anything like this before,” Kotula said.
Kids Coalition Against Hunger was a project that met all of the 4-H pledge criteria, said Executive Director Michael Burwell. Volunteers helped measure, pour, package, seal and box mixes that will be rehydrated to feed 10,000 people locally, nationally and globally.
“One-third of the 10,000 meals will go to local food pantries, another third will go to countries around the world, and the final third will go for disaster relief,” he said. More than 500,000 meals were provided to Asheville, North Carolina after last year’s hurricane.
The nonprofit that was started in Michigan by his father, Donald, has grown and spread north, south, east and west.
Paige Hauge, a member and secretary of Green Meadows 4-H Club, volunteered to help at the station for military and Honor Flight messages.
Wearing a flag-emblazoned sweater for the patriotic station, Hauge was adding to the community service hours she regularly logs. “I love helping others and being part of the 4-H community,” she said.
Shannon Arnwine and her children, Judah and Sienna, who are new members of Country Roots 4-H Club, were stuffing and sewing pillows for hospice. “The club encouraged us to come, and it seemed like a great opportunity to be involved in 4-H and the community,” she said. “It is also important to teach that there are things bigger than at home, like how these pillows will be used for hospice patients and what that means.”
Jacob Obringer and his siblings, Alex and Ryan, and his mother, Beth, were carefully putting the finishing stitches on stuffed pillows for hospice. Jacob was using the service project to give back to the community, but also to practice his sewing skills, which he has used on multiple 4-H projects in the past and a costume project he plans for this year.
“This was a great opportunity for all of us to lend a hand to a greater cause,” said Beth Obringer.
Chris Corney helped his son Eli, who is a Clover Bud in the Cloverachievers 4-H Club, pot a plant for the. Wood Soil and Water Conservation District’s project. “We came today to put our hands to better service,” Corney said.
4-H Hands to Larger Service truly became a team effort, said Clover Legay Foundation President Ashley Vetter. Everyone came together to make it happen, including the individual and group efforts of the Wood County 4-H Office, foundation board, Wood County Agricultural Society, and other organizations such as State Bank, which brought their GIVES Truck, Let’s Build, Kids Coalition Against Hunger, Wood Soil and Water Conservation District, Senior Smiles for meals delivered to Wood County seniors, Honor Flight, Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Wood County Dog Shelter and Wood County Humane Society.
“The turnout exceeds my expectations,” said Vetter. “All of these kids and families have been exposed to giving back, and by giving, you get more back than what you gave.”
