By Brian Good
Bell County Extension Agent

During the holidays, our attention often goes to how we can help others and give back to our communities. Kentucky 4-H youth practice this caring attitude throughout the year.

By participating in 4-H, members learn ways to become engaged citizens in their communities with the hope that they become future local leaders and decision-makers. One way 4-H encourages youth to develop compassion and local pride is through community service.

While 4-H offers specific community service projects, many of our local 4-H clubs and projects contain a community service component.

As youth move into leadership roles within local and statewide 4-H programs, we encourage them to look beyond themselves to identify needs in their communities and develop solutions or ways to meet those needs or to acknowledge the sacrifices of others. Even during the pandemic, our 4-H’ers found ways to brighten people’s days and make the effects of the pandemic a little more bearable for individuals in their communities.

In Bell County, our 4-H’ers have served the community in 2021 by having animal food drives for donations to our local animal shelter, dinners for military veterans, care packages for local first responders, food drives for CCM and Lighthouse Mission, animal shelter pet adoption care packages, and donated socks to the nursing home just to name a few.

If you have a suggestion for a potential 4-H community service project or are just interested in learning more about how 4-H is impacting the community, contact the Bell County office of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.

Educational programs of the Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expressions, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.