Elected President

President elected... Obama? McCain? Nope, ME! I was elected president of our county's 4-H Leaders Association last night. It is a one year term with the possibility of a second year. Most winners (aka suckers!) end up with two years... LOL I replaced a woman who'd served two years, gotten out of it--ugh, I mean finished her term, and then after about a month, the newly elected person backed out and she got stuck back in as president for another year! She was glad to step down last night!

What does it mean? Well, it means you chair the monthly meetings, chair any activity committees, and are responsible for a lot of the behind the scenes stuff that helps keep 4-H running in our county. Oh, and it means you are the number one person for 4-H camp. That is the biggest part of the job and most of the work happens over about a 6-week timeframe as camp is planned, fine-tuned and then executed... Camp is a week long and is held in June. We have had as few as 58 kids to a larger group of about 100. It can be fun though it can also be physically and even emotionally stressful... Just depends on what that one week brings!

I'm happy to serve now that my health allows me to do it. Even a year ago, I doubt that I'd have been able to keep up with it all. Now, I'm anxious to get started!

4-H Camp

I am now the chief glutton-for-punishment of our local 4-H club... To those of you unfamiliar with volunteering--that would be the leader of the 4-H club! It is a thankless job and you get NO pay other than the appreciation from the children who are involved. You get little to no support from many of the parents and, if lucky, you have a core group of parents whom you can count on when it really matters--like when you are doing some sort of event, such as 4-H camp! I am the secretary for our county's 4-H leaders association, so I get roped in to a bit more than some regarding the day to day running of our county's 4-H camp. This year, that includes not only teaching 2 classes to groups of kiddos, but also being the banker for the camp program... Camp starts on Monday and runs through Friday, so next week will be hectic to say the least! I have to drive to camp every day and be there for about 10 to 12 hours each day. This is 30 minutes to, 10 to 12 hours there, and 30 minutes home each and every day of next week! It is also almost $80 in gas cost! Ouch!