4-H Clubs Continue Community Service Tradition

With National Volunteer Week taking place April 18-24, it is the perfect time to recognize all the good that young people bring to their local communities. Members of the thirty 4-H clubs located throughout Columbia and Greene Counties are learning what it means to be good citizens, and they are showing it through a variety of community service projects.

Community Bank continued in 2020 as the sponsor of the annual 4-H Club Community Service Award. The bank provides a monetary award to the top three 4-H clubs. These awards were presented during 4-H Achievement Night held this past winter.

The third place 4-H Club is the Mountain Rangers 4-H Club located in the East Chatham area. It is led by local volunteer, Jolene Pirrone. Its thirteen members participated in a variety of service projects that had them creating for others. They participated in “Hatsgiving”, where they made warm hats that they gave to kids who have lost their hair due to cancer. They 4-H club members also gathered items and created cards to send as a part of Adopt-a-Platoon to our soldiers overseas. They also visited nursing homes early in the 4-H year and distributed crafts they made.

The second place 4-H Club is the Critter Crew 4-H Club in Taghkanic. It is led by volunteers Clara and Jody Cordato. The club’s eight 4-H members created cards at two different times to distribute to residents of local nursing homes. They baked cookies and shared them with their local police, fire and ems workers. Finally, as part of their owl project they built and owl house which they donated to the Mud Creek Environmental Learning Center in Ghent.

The first place 4-H Club is the Flora and Fauna 4-H Club centered in the Cairo area. With its 4-H club leaders, Cathi Annese and Sandy Muller, this club’s twelve 4-H members are very active in their local community. The 4-H club has a deep connection with our veterans and several times created and sent cards to patients at the Walter Reed Hospital. They also made placemats for the patients at the VA hospital in Albany. Finally, to help out locally, they created 45 goodie bags that were distributed with the Cairo-Durham Meals on Wheels to help celebrate Christmas.

Many other 4-H clubs participate in community service activities with most completing at least one. The 4-H clubs who received honorable mention are:

Greene Earth 4-H Club, leader Alisha Schmidt

Teen Ambassadors 4-H Club, leaders Cathi Annese and Jessie Shields

Columbia Crafters 4-H Club, leader Nadine Gazzola

Udderly Impossibles 4-H Club, leader Roberta Keller

Bananas 4-H Club, leader Jessie Shields

Wilderness Workers 4-H Club, leader Emily Kress

Last updated April 21, 2021