ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

International 4-H Hosting Opportunities
We’re asking for your help as we continue to seek host families for our two inbound international 4-H programs for 2009. Please advertise via email or print copy to appropriate leader or member audiences in your county. 

1) The Poland Program in NE Indiana will run from May 27-June 9. This program will bring 27 4-H youth and leaders to NE Indiana from a region in southern Poland. An orientation program will prepare families to host, and provide them with activities to do during their guests stay. As of the writing of this email, we are still in need of 11 host families (for 6 adults and 5 female youth). We are trying to have all the delegates matched with an Indiana family by the end of March. Several of the adults have Extension affiliated jobs, and all 5 youth are 4-H members in Poland

2) The Meiji Gaukuin Japanese Homestay is from July 23-August 15. Participating hosts can be from anywhere in Indiana. This program will bring 25 high school age youth and 4 of their accompanying high school teachers to Indiana for about one month from the Meiji Gaukuin High School in Tokyo, Japan. An information page on the students coming this summer is available here. Preferred application time is now through April, but qualified families will be accepted until all hosts are found.

Applications forms and/or full color brochures can be sent to your office or directly to a potential host. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide in connecting us with interested host families…these programs would not be successful without the help you provide us every year!

- Lee Stanish

Operation: Military Kids
We have been notified that the following military events are scheduled and that assistance from our staff and volunteers would be greatly appreciated:

Purple Camps in Princeton, IN, for children ages 7-16 who have at least one military parent. Each camp will have the capacity to take up to 110 per week for a total of 220 campers. Camp dates are: June 28-July 3 and July 26-July 31.

The camp director has requested the use of the OMK Mobile Technology Lab which we have reserved for them. Cathy Boerste, Gibson County CED and 4-H Youth Development Educator, has graciously agreed to coordinate the effort to fill 220 Hero Packs, so if you have groups in the area that would be interested in this community service project, please contact her at 812-385-3491.

A Purple Camp is also planned for the first week of June on Purdue’s campus. No specific requests for assistance have been received at this time.

The Indiana National Guard Youth Symposium is scheduled for July 31-August 2 at the University Place Hotel in Indianapolis. The MTL has been scheduled, and we anticipate a need for Hero Packs.

Youth activities and Hero Packs would be appreciated at the following scheduled Deployment Briefings:

- March 21 – 1:00 p.m. – Camp Atterbury
- April 4 – 12:00 p.m. – Hammond Armory
- April 5 – 8:00 a.m. – Logansport Armory
- April 19 – 9:00 a.m. – Ft. Harrison
- May 2 – 10:00 a.m. – Camp Atterbury
- May 3 – 8:00 a.m. – TBA

Please let Steve or Judy know if you have volunteer groups that would be interested and available to assist with any of these events. We can support the effort with supplies for Hero Packs and with supplies for activities included in the “Activities to Assist” Manual that can be found on the OMK Web site. Supplies for other appropriate activities are also available.

Thank you so much for your consideration!

- Judy Hauser and Steve McKinley

Environmental Education Week, April 12-18, 2009
Website: www.eeweek.org/

Earth Day: Tuesday, April 22, 2009
Websites: http://earthday.gov/

4-H Sport Fishing
The GoFishIN workshops are highly recommended for 4-H sport fishing volunteers. Your volunteers will get a lot of usable information and, most likely, be able to access rods and poles for use in your county program (on loan from the IDNR). Check the IDNR Natural Resources Education Center website http://www.in.gov/dnr/nrec/ for the scheduleThe Aquatic Resources Education Coordinator is Kacie Ehrenberger (317-549-0206, kehrenberger@dnr.in.gov).

- Natalie Carroll

Animal Sciences Workshop for Youth
The Animal Sciences Workshop for Youth committee is busy making plans for the 37th annual workshop to be held June 10-12, 2009 on the Purdue University campus. As a group, we are very excited about the positive impact this workshop had on the delegates that attended in past years. An exit survey of these youth confirmed our hopes that this annual event is meeting the needs and expectations of the delegates who attend.

Most of the chaperones are lined-up for this year's workshop, but we need your help in another way. As co-chair of the committee, I am asking you to please make a special effort this Spring to get the word out to the "animal loving youth" in your county about the opportunity to spend three fun-filled days at Purdue University this coming June. We need to attract more youth with an interest in animals and/or veterinary medicine.

Registrations are due by May 15. If you are already planning to send youth to the 2009 Animal Sciences Workshop for Youth, you can disregard this request. If not, how about using the videotape I distributed at the 2001 Youth Staff Retreat to promote this year's workshop? This tape would be very appropriate for a 4-H club meeting, after school presentation or a single youth who needs some motivation to attend this summer’s workshop. Youth can also access this videotape at: http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/livestock/events.htm From here, they can click on “Livestock Workshop video.”

Thanks for all you do for the youth of Indiana!

- Clint Rusk

State 4-H Junior Leader Conference
“Take Control…Take Your Leadership to the Next Level” is the theme for the 78th State 4-H Junior Leader Conference that will be held June 16-19, 2009 at the University of Indianapolis. Delegate registration will begin at noon, Tuesday, June 16th, with a departure prior to lunch on Friday, June 19th.

The registration fee will be $160 per person and is due by May 15. Again this year all registrations may be completed via ED. Delegates should be Jr. Leaders who have completed grades 9-12. Please help us to recruit participants for this excellent leadership development experience!

Members of the Jr. Leader Council are willing to visit your county to help promote the conference to your Leaders and Jr. Leaders. If you would like to schedule a visit, please contact me. A promotional brochure for Jr. Leader Conference is posted on the conference Web site: http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/sjlc/

- Steve McKinley

COOL – Country of Origin Labeling
A new federal law going into affect this Spring requires retailers to verify the origin of the products they sell. This means that store owners who sell meat must be able to verify that the meat they are selling came from animals who were born and raised in the United States, or Canada, or Mexico, etc. In order for this verification to take place, retailers must rely on meat packers/processors to verify this information on the animals going into their harvest facilities. Likewise, the meat packers must rely on their suppliers to provide this information, and so on down the food chain.

As Educators, you may become involved in this process if you help coordinate a county fair livestock auction or simply sell a group of county fair animals to a packer, like Swift and Company or Tyson. Dave Osborne (Ripley County Educator) called today to say that Swift and Company in Louisville are requiring their suppliers (including county fairs) to have a signed affidavit on file that verifies the Country of Origin of the animals they are selling to Swift and Company. Dave is planning to print a label for his 4-H livestock exhibitors to sign when they deliver their 4-H animal enrollment forms to the Ripley County Extension Office. The 4-H member will sign the label indicating that their 4-H animals were born raised and fed in the United States (or Canada, Mexico, etc.). Dave then plans to attach the label to the Extension Office’s copy of the 4-H member’s animal enrollment form, thus preventing the need for another piece of paper to keep on file. I share this story just to provide an example of one way to meet the COOL requirement. In the future, I will plan to add a place on the animal enrollment forms to gather the Country of Origin.

Please do not flood my in-box with questions about COOL. You can each find plenty of information about this new mandate using Google or some other search engine.

- Clint Rusk

4-H Shooting Sports
Shooting Sports exhibit reminder:
* No firearms or arrows (or parts of these items) are allowed on the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
* No unsafe acts may be shown on shooting sports posters.

The Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997. The Omnibus Act specifies gun control for individuals convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Additional legislation prohibits any person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, or subject to a restraining order, from being present in any place where firearms and/or ammunition are present. Therefore, Extension Educators must have a signed self-report on file for every certified instructor in your 4-H Shooting Sports program. The form is on page 14 of the Risk Management section of the Policies and Procedures Handbook and only needs to be signed once (not yearly) by certified shooting sports instructors.

- Natalie Carroll

PROJECT CURRICULUM AND RESOURCES

4-H Natural Resource On-line Project Support
1. State fair exhibit pictures:
* www.four-h.purdue.edu/natural_resources/4h.html
* Clarification and ideas for exhibits
* NOT intended to be copied

2. Leader’s/Helper’s Guides – Answers and suggestions to questions in youth manuals, information about Experiential Learning, and suggestions for making exhibits. The direct links to the 4-H natural resource leader’s guides are given below. You can also access these, and many more, by entering “leader” in The Education Store search box https://secure.agriculture.purdue.edu/store/

* Aquatic Science Leader’s Guide (4-H-1006-W), www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-1006-W.pdf
* Beekeeping (4-H-576-W), www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-576-W.pdf
* Entomology (4-H 890-W), www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-890-W.pdf
* Forestry (4-H-1008-W), www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-1008-W.pdf
* Geology (4-H 988-W), www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-988-W.pdf
* Shooting Sports Education (4-H-1007-W), www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-1007-W.pdf
* Weather (4-H-441-W), www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-441-W.pdf
* Wildlife (4-H-907-W),  www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-907-W.pdf .
Note we also have a hardcopy version of this manual.

- Natalie Carroll

4-H Entomology
Important notice: The new publication, How to Make an Awesome Insect Collection (ID-401), has been unfortunately delayed, far past the time that we anticipated its completion. Consequently, we will continue to use, How to Study, Collect, Preserve, and Identify Insects (4-H 764) again this year as the insect collection reference book. My apologies for all this confusion; it is not what we intended.

Clarification of the 2009 state fair exhibit guidelines:

1. The current supply of 4-H 6853b packet (on your shelf) contains: insect mounting card for Grade 3 (4-H-15-20D); Order cards (4-H-15-20B) and ID label cards (4-H-15-20E). Therefore, your current stock of the envelope can be used for Grade 3, and Grades 9 - 12.

2. Exhibit cards required for 2009 State Fair Exhibits:

3. All exhibit cards are available at the 4-H Project website, http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/projects/, for viewing and/or downloading. See Entomology; select publications.

4. 4-H 6853b (Entomology Cards envelope) will be revised to include ALL Exhibit cards; ID label cards; and order cards. There will be an announcement when the packet is available from the Educational Store.

5. A new on-line resource to help with identification was created and is available at:
http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/Flashcards_web.pdf

- Natalie Carroll

VOLUNTEER DEVELOPMENT

4-H Volunteer Vision
Download The March “4-H Volunteer Vision” here for your use with volunteers.

- Steve McKinley

Tenured Volunteer Recognition
March 1 was the deadline for counties to submit Tenured Volunteer Recognition information for 2009 – thanks to those of you who met that deadline for us! Those who still need to submit their information are asked to do so ASAP via ED; no paper registration forms are requested. If you have no volunteers to recognize this year, please let me know via e-mail at mckinles@purdue.edu.

Please double-check the spelling accuracy of your volunteers’ names so that we can recognize them correctly! If you have volunteers with 50, 55, 60, or 65 years of tenure, please submit a separate Word document or e-mail to me with a brief biography of these volunteers to be included in the program booklet.

The URL for ED instructions is https://www.four-h.purdue.edu/ed/leader_tenure.doc

Thank you!

- Steve McKinley

National Volunteer Week: April 19-25
National Volunteer Week will be held from April 19-25, 2009. We all know the valuable roles that volunteers hold in 4-H and Extension Programs. To help recognize the efforts of these special volunteers, plan now to recognize the volunteers in your program during National Volunteer Week and at other times throughout the year.

Please note the link below to download a National Volunteer Week packet that provides you with resources that you can use to recognize your volunteers. Included in the packet is a sample news release, sample Extension Volunteer Proclamation, suggestions for how to recognize volunteers, a daily tip sheet, and some volunteer recognition Web sites.
Download National Volunteer Week packet

If you need further suggestions for how to recognize your volunteers, please let me know.

- Steve McKinley

2009 North Central Region Volunteer Forum
The 2009 North Central Region Volunteer Forum will be held October 1-4, in Lincoln, NE. Preliminary information regarding the Forum is located on the Nebraska 4-H Web site at: http://4h.unl.edu/volunteers/forum.htm

More information will be available in the coming months.

- Steve McKinley