When Alison Kumpula talked to classmates at her Edmonton high school about BSE, she found many of them asking “isn’t it over?”
“They had no understanding of how devastating the past 16 months have been for beef producers,” she said. “That really concerned me. If my own peers don’t even understand what’s happening to beef producers, then how can the urban populace know?”
Kumpula’s concern set the tone for a Farm Credit Canada 4-H scholarship project in which she designed an interactive presentation called Beef It Up aimed at educating people in her community about the safety of Canadian beef.
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As a winner, she received $3,000 to make her idea a reality.
Now her project has taken on wider scope. The first year university student from Lac la Biche, Alta., worked with City River Round Up, a celebration of Edmonton’s 100th birthday, where she set up a beef information centre in conjunction with an Oct. 15 barbecue. She handed out pamphlets and hosted a game show in which contestants had to answer beef related questions for prizes.
“It gives people incentive to try to answer or look at what knowledge they have on the beef industry, specifically focusing on food safety and the importance of cooking, handling and preparing meat.”
The FCC 4-H scholarship program encourages students to submit plans that address farm safety, community improvement or hunger issues. Along with $3,000 to implement their projects, the winners receive a $1,500 educational scholarship.
In previous years only one national winner was awarded, but to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its scholarship program, FCC funded six projects in 2004. FCC community investment consultant Darren Lacey said the sponsorship is about more than giving money.
“Wherever possible we try to align and partner with organizations like 4-H to create programs that are meaningful and impactful in communities,” he said.
“This isn’t just a program you send in an application for and get some money back. A large part of it is that the funding we provide to the winners allows them to take their idea … and make it happen to create change in their community.”
FCC asks applicants to identify a community need that sets the tone of their project, then outline how they can make their idea happen. Applicants are judged on originality, basic plan and approach. The estimated impact of the project and whether it can work are also factors.
“We got very high quality entries, which made the judging difficult,” said Lacey of the 21 entries submitted in 2004.
“I really did feel personally good about the impact they would have and the quality of the projects we funded. This project is a commitment. It asks for the entrant to commit to a three-month project, putting it together, making it happen, getting supplies and the money handled. This year’s winners came up with some great ideas.”
Eric Dalke is raising awareness about the dangers of driving on rural and grid roads through his project, Take Me Home, Country Roads.
He drives country roads often but kids in urban areas like Morden and Winkler only drive them occasionally and are not aware of dangers.
“That’s definitely a safety hazard so I decided that would be the community safety topic that I would address.”
The 18 year old from Morden, Man., is lobbying the provincial government to make gravel road driving a mandatory component of the province’s driver education program.
Students are currently not required to spend time on gravel roads when they are learning to drive.
“I thought, why should we not learn how to drive these roads when we do so often and rural Manitoba is constantly losing people in rural road accidents.”
Dalke also plans to lobby municipal government to improve regulatory road measures such as erecting stop signs at uncontrolled intersections.
He is making a video that deals with the dangers of country road driving as told through students, driver’s education instructors and paramedics.
Both Dalke and Kumpula say they have gained skills in public speaking, networking, organization and leadership through working on their projects.
Chris Forrest, Canadian 4-H council communications manager, said besides personal development, the projects show young adults how one person can have an impact on their local community.
“I think this project really has been so successful because it ties in the community spirit of 4-H with the actual hands-on development of a project that is going to have impact at the local level,” he said.
“It’s programs like this that really fulfil the statement when we say 4-H youth are the leaders of tomorrow because if they are the leaders of tomorrow, our future is in good hands.”
