Community Service
4-H has a history of promoting community service. Community service activities have always been an
important part of the 4-H experience. In the 4-H pledge, members state that they will strive to use their
head, heart, hands, and health to improve their club, community, country, and world.
Being a member of 4-H provides awesome opportunities to be involved in your community! The
possibilities are endless! Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Maxwell’s fourth and fifth grades at Black Mountain
Elementary School are collecting items to send to soldiers as a community service.
A 4-H member's involvement in service activities offers an excellent way for youth to practice and
enhance their leadership and social skills by working for the common good of their community.
Members' participation also helps to build discipline, provide self-satisfaction, foster respect for others,
and promote civic responsibility. Community service can also give the youth real world experience in a
variety of career fields. Mrs. Moore’s classes at JACES are participating in a food drive for a local church
for the food kitchen.
The most important aspect of starting a group community service project is making sure that all
members are involved in project development. When youth are involved in developing a program, they
have a stronger commitment due to their sense of ownership. This commitment will increase their
enjoyment of activities. Involving youth in the program planning will also create new ideas from their
diverse views and experiences. Mrs. Longsworth’s fifth grade class at Harlan Middle School is collecting
money for Christmas presents for the needy. This past Saturday, the Harlan County 4-H Teen Club
wrapped presents for customers at Tractor Supply, and then traveled to Santa’s Workshop to help Mike
Howard of Wallins to wrap gifts for his annual “Mountain Santa” caravan. This past spring, Mrs.
Ledford’s Leadership Classes and 4-H made lap blankets for patients at the local infusion center to use
during their cancer treatment infusions. Each patient was also given a gift bag of items collected by the
Leadership Classes and 4-H.
Through its pledge of “hands to larger service,” 4-H has historically given back to the community by
encouraging young people and adults to volunteer. In 4-H, service is commonly defined as the voluntary
action of an individual or a group of individuals without pay. Service to the community – through food
drives, raking the yard of an elderly neighbor, adopt-a-highway programs, teens teaching younger youth,
teens mentoring children, or youth determining community needs and helping solve community
problems – helps young people learn caring, leadership and citizenship. Mrs. Erin Alred’s fourth grade
class at Wallins Elementary is donating canned food as well as working with the Angel Tree. Mrs.
Britton’s fourth grade class at Cawood Elementary is sponsoring a non-perishable food drive for Christ’s
Hands. Mrs. Freeman’s and Mrs. Huff’s fourth grade classes participated in a food drive and a toy drive,
and these classes have something planned for the Animal Shelter after Christmas. These are just a few
of the many projects our schools have going on throughout the year. You might be surprised at the
many service learning projects your child’s school might have. Why not volunteer with a project that has
becomedear to your child’s heart?
Our U.S. society is based on the idea that we are all responsible for the well-being of our community,
country and world. Even before the founding of our country, the willingness to serve was evident in the
hearts of many. Later the Great Depression brought out opportunities for service throughout the nation,
and the forming of the Peace Corps in 1960 by President John F. Kennedy further reinforced the
eagerness of citizens to get involved in helping others. While the people served certainly benefit from
community service, the volunteers who engage in serving others benefit positively in many ways. Harlan
County 4-H Youth Development continues in that tradition by involving young people in a variety of
community service-learning projects and programs.
By giving back to their communities, young people can:
 Learn the value of helping others.
 Develop leadership, communication, organizational skills and a sense of empowerment.
 Learn how important the connection is between subject matter and life in the community.
 Learn how to cooperate with one another and work as a team with diverse groups of people
including adults, peers and others with different backgrounds and experiences.
 Succeed in an area different from academics, athletics or popularity.
 Build self-esteem from the positive results of their service.
 Develop problem-solving and decision-making skills by applying their knowledge to real-world
situations.
 Develop a sense of being responsible for their community and a sense that citizenship requires
them to actively participate in their community.
 Receive recognition for their efforts and possibly college scholarships. If a 4-H club member in
fourth or fifth grade school clubs completes five designated projects or activities or four projects
and one community service, he or she receives a 4-H Medallion Award and is recognized at their
end of school year Awards Ceremony.
 Experience the world of work.
Not only do young people gain by being involved in community service, the clubs and groups that they
are in also experience benefits from planning and carrying out service projects.
Carrying out service activities can strengthen a club or group because it: Boosts member commitment
and involvement by giving members meaningful activities. Can involve families and youth in a joint
activity, fulfills the “hands to larger service” part of the 4-H pledge, builds unity among members,
allowing them to function better as a team, allows members to get to know one another better as they
work together on a common goal, helps youth become invested in their club and community, shows the
community how youth can be resources and how they can get things done. For more information on 4H Clubs contact Raymond Cox, 4-H/Youth Development agent at 273-0835 or rcox@uky.edu.
Educational Programs offered by the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless
of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.