Plateau 4-H clubs look for students, leaders

The Washington State University-King County Extension Youth Development/4-H Team says the Enumclaw area has “amazing 4-H volunteers” and programs and they are coming to town to host a gather to recruit more volunteers and participants in Plateau area programs.

“A 4-H Welcome Gathering for Interested Parents, Young People and Community Organizations” is scheduled for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the Enumclaw Public Library. The gathering is designed for parents, young people and community members who are interested in learning more about how to join, volunteer or support 4-H youth development in King County. It will include a short movie, presentation, and time for questions and answers with current 4-H members and volunteers.

4-H is a volunteer-led program to support young people ages 5 to 19 to develop life skills like public speaking, teamwork and responsibility.

A 4-H club is a small group of youth supported by an adult volunteer which meets weekly or monthly to focus on a learning-by-doing a project like pets, cooking, sewing, environmental stewardship, expressive arts, mechanical sciences and technology.

In King County, there are almost 100 existing community clubs that meet in libraries, schools, volunteer’s homes or other community spots. There are more than 5,000 young people in King County involved in 4-H. The greater King County 4-H learning community involves about 500 adult volunteers and 16,000 youth. In Washington state those numbers grow to 6,655 adult volunteers and 55,408 youth and increase to 540,000 volunteers and 6.5 million youth nationwide.

The Plateau is home to one of the area’s largest 4-H partnerships with 16 different clubs in the Black Diamond, Buckley, Enumclaw and Wilkeson area. Those clubs cover subject areas like horses, dogs, dairy cows, poultry, pigs, beef cattle, rabbits, goats, cats and home economics. For a link to see existing clubs in this area go to http://www.king.wsu.edu/4h/OrganizedClubs.html.