According to the U.S. Census the median household income in Logan County is $39,072 and according to Data U.S. the median household income in the city of Russellville is only $29,545. The cost for one 4-Her to attend 4-H Summer Camp is $275 plus the cost of transportation. Many families in Logan County do not have the resources to allow their children to attend 4-H Camp. Even if the cost of 4-H Camp was only $100, many families would find it difficult to come up with the extra money. It isn’t that 4-H Camp is too expensive. It costs less than many other camps, but the resources that our families have are limited.

The Logan County 4-H Council made it their mission in 2017 to allow all kids that wanted to go to 4-H Camp to be able to go without this financial burden. The Logan County Extension District Board has agreed to pay the programming cost for each camper. The 4-H Council uses a large portion of Ag Tag funds as well as community support to contribute to every camper.

Since 2017, Logan County 4-H has been able to take a total of 426 campers to a week-long 4-H summer camp at the West Kentucky 4-H Camping Center. In the past 7 years, every camper has only paid $50. We were able to give local youth in our community a tremendous opportunity that they may not have otherwise been able to take part in.

We have had an extraordinary group of young people attend 4-H Camp. These youth were humble and appreciative. As part of our camp week, we take time to make homemade, handwritten thank you notes to every sponsor. That has had a great impact on the community support that we continue to receive for our local 4-H program. Many youth that have had the opportunity to go to camp are now coming back and serving as leaders for our group. Many are CITs (Counselor’s in Training), Teen Leaders, Adult Leaders, and Camp Staff members. We have seen exponential growth from this opportunity that they have been provided.