Good 4-H club leaders provide guidance and encouragement while letting children make their own decisions, says the 2006 national winner.
Lori Sereda of Bow Island, Alta., was named national volunteer leader of the year by the Canadian 4-H Council and The Co-operators insurance group.
Sereda said club activities such as livestock care, judging, public speaking and record keeping are skills that 4-H members take into their adult lives.
“They are there to grow.”
Sereda said she was surprised and touched that the 18 members of her Lethbridge club nominated her.
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She started the multi club because she knew some children were uncomfortable working with animals. She told her members they were only limited by their imagination and encouraged boys to take cooking and girls to try woodwork. That drew in urban as well as rural children, doubling 4-H membership in her community.
She and her husband have since moved to Bow Island and now have a new multi club of 13 members, including city and farm kids.
“We love watching the kids and the excitement on their faces.”
Sereda has been a leader for nine years, but her husband joined a beef club when he was 10. All four of their sons are 4-H members.
She will be using the $1,100 cash prize to help renovate their home.
Sereda is also planning more 4-H activities, including a work bee with her club members to make thank you gifts for the public speaking judges.
The Saskatchewan leader award went to Maxine Lehmann of Mayfair while Gale Howard of Salmon Arm won in British Columbia. There was no provincial winner in Manitoba.
More than 29,000 4-H members across Canada depend on more than 9,000 volunteer leaders to run clubs and oversee projects and fundraising efforts.
Lehmann organized a club four years ago in the Mayfair-Whitkow area because the members had to travel an hour or more to attend meetings in North Battleford. Her Lone Pine club was for light horse projects and had 12 members in 2005-06. The club took this past year off because some members wanted to do other things.
“With hockey, soccer and school, there’s so many things the kids can be in. Kids in 4-H need to be committed, especially in an animal project.”
Family tradition
Lehmann was a 4-H member from ages 10 to 21, working on beef, light horse and home craft projects. She said good leaders are knowledgeable about 4-H and willing to pass on their information.
Howard’s five children have all been in 4-H because she believes in the program.
“It’s an honest, good program,” said Howard, who has been involved in
4-H since she was 14 when friends lured her into a beef project by allowing the town kid to keep her animal on their farm. She is one of three leaders of a horse club in Salmon Arm that had 13 members this past year, down from 30 in 2005.
The reduction occurred because two members reached the maximum age of 21 and others left at the age of 16. For 2007, she will focus on travel opportunities and scholarships available through 4-H because many of her club members are in grades 10 and 11.
