Monday, November 13^th, Harrison County 4-H representatives traveled to Dawson Springs, KY to deliver a monetary check donation and 3 park benches to one of the hardest hit areas of the December 2021 tornados. This delivery has been the culminating trip of a two-year process.

The service project idea began in January of 2022 when the Harrison County 4-H Council voted to set aside a certain amount of money as a donation to be used towards the tornado relief efforts.  As an added component, the council wanted to include Harrison County teens in an identified service project for West KY where the money was used.

As a result, 4-H Agent Shannon Farrell was put into contact with Steven Parker at the Dawson Springs Housing Authority. The identified project became that of a playground rebuild.

To meet that goal, Shannon led the service component of the 2022 spring Area 4-H Middle School Retreat, where all middle school participants took part in a service project workshop that focused on remembering the tornado devastation of West KY. Several projects took place in the service workshop including: creating pages of encouragement to be bound into a book and sent to a school in Dawson Springs; pictures of each group in purple to send to Dawson Springs for their #LivePurple initiative; painting park benches that were built for the retreat to be sent to Dawson Springs for the playground effort; and practicing “making the ask” for donation money to help raise funds for the playground rebuild.

Each of the students were given copies of the letter explaining about the playground rebuild project and how to donate. They were challenged to take the letters back to their communities and ask for donations.

Upon return from the Middle School Retreat, Harrison County teens did a promotion for donations and shared the details from the retreat on the WCYN Coffee Break Extra show and did a presentation at the local Lion’s Club meeting.

These efforts led to donations totaling $13,025 from the following donors: Harrison County 4-H Council, Harrison County Homemakers, Harrison County Lion’s Club, and a couple of anonymous donors.

Delay in the project at Dawson Springs led to the lapse in time for sending the donations. Still, delivering the check and benches was a humbling experience for all involved. Nearly two years later, the area in Dawson Springs has come a long way, but has such a long road to go. The teens took a small drive around a housing unit area that was flattened during the tornados (an area that has been cleaned up, but not rebuilt). Debris along the banks and in trees, as well as severe tree damage, still holds evidence of the devastation that took place so many months ago.