Five local kids are taking up the challenge of quickly organizing a new 4H club for their swine/pig projects for the Deschutes County Fair. Due to unexpected circumstances, their existing 4H club split up a little more than a month before the start of Fair.
With less than two weeks to go these kids were left with the choice of either just giving up on their 4H swine projects for the year and trying to sell their pigs informally, or come together to form a new club and make the best of a bad situation.
So coming together is what they did. They formed the Eastside 4H Club, adopted a memorable logo (a hog riding a hog), elected officers, assigned jobs, developed a fundraising strategy to buy stall and fair supplies and even adopted a Club philosophy of Keep Calm and 4H On.
The group is made up of four girls (ranging from a high school senior to middle schoolers) and one boy entering middle school (yes, the younger brother of one of the girls, somewhat dragged into this seemingly all-girl group).
The Eastside 4H Club will be collecting cans and bottles around “camp” (behind the Swine Barn) to not only fundraise for their new Club but also to promote a greener and more environmentally friendly camp.
Seeing this diverse group of Central Oregon kids work together quickly and efficiently is something any CEO, business owner or manager could learn from. They set aside differences of opinion, listened (truly listened) to each other, then made decisions that were in the best interest of the Club, even if that decision was not the individual’s personal preference.
So if you head out to the Deschutes County Fair August 3-7, be sure to stop by the swine barn, look for the hog riding a hog representing the Eastside 4H Club and say hello to Miah Cronen, Anna MacLeod, Ella Reed, Emma Willerton and Brody MacLeod.
Check out their website at www.eastside4hclub.com.
