Regional 4-H Participates in Feeding Missouri Food Drive

In February, Missouri 4-H collaborated with Feeding Missouri in a first-of-its-kind statewide food drive.  Every 4-H club in the state was invited to contribute to its success.  

From February 1-28, 4-H’ers across Missouri engaged in a friendly service competition to see which 4-H clubs could contribute the greatest amount of food, cash contributions, and volunteer hours.  4-H’ers had the opportunity to organize and/or participate in food drives, fundraising, volunteerism, and educational outreach.  

There were four top prize awards including most pounds of food collected, most money raised, most hours volunteered, and most meals raised overall.  Counties winning the top spots secured $1000 in 4-H scholarships to be used for 4-H members in their county.  

Two of the four top prizes, Most Hours Volunteered and Most Meals Raised Overall, was awarded to regional 4-H members in Webster County.  

Webster County 4-H collected 15,525 meals and volunteered 176 hours. 

Webster County 4-H is part of a regional trio of counties including Texas, Webster, and Wright and is supervised by University of Missouri Extension County Engagement Specialist in Youth Development, Janice Weddle.  

“Isn’t this exciting,” Weddle said, “to be teaching kids leadership and the value of community service while helping the community at the same time.  Our regional 4-H program, which is Texas, Wright, and Webster counties, has great stuff going on all the time.  It was fun to be part of a friendly statewide competition and wonderful that the kids that worked so hard are rewarded through 4-H scholarships. ” 

For more information on the regional 4-H program, how to join, or how to volunteer, contact Janice Weddle, County Engagement Specialist in Youth Development, at the University of Missouri Extension office in Wright County at 417-349-4134 or via email at weddlejd@missouri.edu