“I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.”  What better words to describe the core beliefs and core cause of the 4-H youth development program than these lyrics from the song ‘The Greatest Love Of All’, written by Michael Masser and Linda Creed, and made famous by artists like Whittney Houston and George Benson.

And what a better time than National 4-H Week to announce the Ralph Outcalt Foundation, and trustees Karla Shriver and Carolyn Kawanabe, have gifted SLV youth and the SLV Area Extension program with a grant to hire a much needed, second 4-H Youth Development Specialist for the next three years.

The 4-H program is for youth ages 8 to 18 with an additional starter program called Clover Buds for ages 5 to 7. The symbol for 4-H is the four-leaf clover. The motto is “To make the best better.” The slogan is “Learn by doing.”  The 4-H pledge is “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living for my club, my community, my country, and my world”.

Youth who join 4-H belong to a club where they make new friends, learn how to run meetings, elect officers, engage in community service projects together, and do fun activities.  In addition, each member chooses one or more projects from a list of 200, which match their own interests and which they will work with an adult leader and their parents to complete through the year.  These projects range from robotics to rockets, from cooking to cake decorating, from sewing to shooting sports, from wildlife to welding, and from livestock to leathercraft to leadership.

The magic of the 4-H program is the volunteer leaders who dedicate their time and energy to help these youth learn important and useful life skills, self-confidence, self-love, community service and community pride. In short, they help develop our kids into competent, confident, caring adults who have strong work ethics and understand how to create great service and value for themselves, their family, and their community. The other magic to the 4-H program is the CSU Extension, youth development specialists who dedicate their lives to the youth in our community. Last year, in the six county, San Luis Valley Area, we had about 380 youth enrolled with 45 volunteer leaders, five part time county 4-H program coordinators, and one Extension 4-H agent.

Historically, the SLV Extension staff has had two 4-H agents, which is barely enough to cover all the youth and volunteer needs of the six counties. These agents are youth development specialists and are partly funded by your county dollars and partly funded by CSU dollars. But for the past 12 years, we have had only enough funding for one agent. There is no way this SLV Area 4-H program should have ever been led by a single agent, and I am committing that it will never again be left to a single agent. I heard of one other case in the state of Colorado in which the community had raised an endowment fund to hire their 4-H staff. And that is what we are going to do in the San Luis Valley. I believe the counties and CSU will continue funding the first 4-H specialist, and with an endowment in place, we will be able to securely fund our second specialist for decades on our own.

Our target is $3 million for the endowment fund. Once in place, the interest it will earn each year will fund the agent’s salary and possibly part of the program operating cost for that agent. I have never raised this kind of money before, so I asked Karla Shriver and Kathy Woods for advice. Their proven success in helping the SLV community fund the new Ski Hi Outcalt Complex is testimony to their ability and tenacity. After several meetings, Karla advised me that foundations do not fund endowments like this, so we will need to do it like an old-fashioned barn raising. We will call on our community; our families, friends, neighbors, farmers, ranchers, and hometown businesses and banks to pitch in and help us raise this money; help us raise this barn; help us raise the next generation of competent adults.

Then the miracle happened. Karla told us to fill out an application and the Outcalt Foundation would give us a grant to get us started. She came back the next week and told us they would give us a grant each year for three years, to get us started. And I still did not understand the miracle. I thought Outcalt was giving us the seed money to start the endowment. “No Larry, you misunderstand me,” explained Karla, “We are giving you this money so that you can hire the agent you so desperately need NOW. And we will fund this new agent for three years in case it takes that long to raise the endowment funds to make it a permanent position!”

Wow! Holy Cow!!  Holy Smokes!!!  Karla and Carolyn, and Ralph Outcalt Foundation, we are so very grateful for your generosity, your vision for SLV youth, and your trust in the CSU Extension staff and 4-H program.

So, what next? We will begin our hiring process for this second 4-H youth development specialist this fall and hope to have this person onboard by the first of the year.

And as for the endowment? Ruthie and I are donating $1,000 this week to help get it started, and $100 per month until we hit our target.

If you believe in what we are doing and want to enroll your child in 4-H, please call the CSU Extension office. If you believe in what we are doing and want to volunteer to be a 4-H leader, please call the CSU Extension office. If you believe in what we are doing and are willing to pitch in and help us with this endowment fund, in the spirit of an old-fashioned community barn raising, please call or come into the CSU Extension office and we will get you the information you need to help.

And please, when you see your County Commissioners, thank them for funding our Extension program. When you see a 4-H leader, thank them for their volunteer service. And when you see Karla and Carolyn, please thank them for the miracle they have created for the youth in our community.

Your SLV Area Extension staff and office can be reached in Monte Vista on the west side of the Monte Vista Co-op: Phone 719-852-7381. CSU Extension programs are available to all without discrimination.