Cyndi's Two Cents

Ag youth heart of a community

Commentary.

If you were involved in FFA or 4-H during your youth, you know the value of the association and life lessons learned and/or confirmed through that association. Experience in agricultural youth organizations offers young people many opportunities.

Young people learn to work together with other youth and adults to accomplish a common goal, whether it is building a fire at 4-H camp or building a picnic table to raise money for FFA. Through those experiences, leaders begin to hone the skills that will be used throughout their lifetimes.

Participation in 4-H and FFA offers many the opportunity to find and use their voice. By practicing and studying in a safe environment, young people learn to voice their opinion and to communicate more effectively.

Citizenship is an area of focus for both 4-H and FFA.  Members are encouraged to be part of the solution to building a better community.  I believe that most people are inherently good and these organizations do what the 4-H motto says to do: “To make the best better.”

I’ve participated in it as a youth and witnessed it as an adult – that spirit of goodwill and courage, integrity and strong moral character.  The very essence of goodwill will spread like wildfire when fed the right fuel.

It happened recently at the Saline County Fair in Marshall, Missouri.  One of the young exhibitors has cancer.  It is in its late stages.  Ten-year-old Haley Browning who is hoping to live long enough to exhibit at the Missouri State Fair in August, was the recipient of a flood of goodwill during the fair premium sale.

Haley’s pen of Grand Champion meat rabbits sold to a consortium of thirty-two buyers for nearly $6,800 at the auction.  The generosity of those buyers is notable, but what happened next exposes the heart of Haley’s fellow Saline County 4-Hers.

Taylor Boland, a volunteer with 4-H, says it was uplifting watching fellow 4-Hers donate part of their winnings to Haley.

“After they would get done selling their animal they would walk up to the announcer stand, or throughout the sale, and say I would like to donate $100, or, $150 to Haley, “she said.  “The exhibitors, alone, really stepped up, to (help) Haley.”

Over the course of the sale, Haley’s fellow 4-Hers donated more than $2,800. Inspired by the youth, Saline County Fair Board gave one-percent of its part of the gross sales to Haley. In total, Haley received $10,000.

Involvement in agricultural youth organizations provides young people with many of the tools and knowledge they need to be prosperous and compassionate members of society. Young people in this country are our finest natural resource, and our future. If we give them the opportunity today, they will be ready when it is time for them to lead us by their good example as the 4-Hers in Saline County, Missouri did earlier this month.

I hope we’ll see you at the fair!