The Festival of Giving 4-H  Team of ten adults and teens serve as the coordinators for many of the Barren County 4-H Community Service projects. The members volunteer to serve on the Team annually, some of the volunteers continue to serve while new individuals are encouraged to join.  The individuals assess the needs of the county and develop community service projects to meet those needs.

Barren County 4-H teens and adult volunteers collaborated with the KY State Mental Hospital Staff to provide a “Festival of Giving” for the residents. The Team enlisted the assistance of Barren County 4-H members and Homemakers and conducted a personal care item drive for the 85 residents to ensure that they would have something for Christmas.  They collected 350 items to be divided among the residents. The Team decided to make a gift for all of the 85 plus residents for Valentine’s Day by actually making hand cream and putting it in individual plastic jars and decorating them for all of the residents.  They also provided the facility with floral arrangements, resident door decorations and food tray cards throughout the year.

The Team organized a “Make a Dog or Cat Happy Toy Drive”.  One Barren County 4-H’er conducted a workshop on how to make toys from old t-shirts.  Barren County 4-H delivered 145 dog and cat toys, extra treats and cleaning supplies for all of the animals at the BRAWA Animal shelter after the flood disaster.

The Team worked with the Bounty of the Barrens Farmer’s Market and collected canned food items and books for the Reads and Feeds program every Saturday for 4 weeks.  The 4-H Teens also set up animal exhibits- to explain where your food comes from!!! They collected 139 books and 650 cans of food.

The Barren County 4-H’ers and Homemakers developed a take home bag of crafts for all of the residents at the Senior Citizen Center that was distributed the first of each month. The 4-H’ers made cards and letters for “Happy Thoughts!” throughout the year!!!

The look on many of the 4-H’ers and residents faces is priceless.  That moment when they each know that they have made a connection with someone who needed assistance.  The impact of the 4-H Festival of Giving Team’s program has been vocalized by local officials, teachers and administrators after observing the program results.  The 4-H’ers and adults have a better understanding for the needs in our community and are continuing to look for ways to improve it. The program has provided innovative ways to communicate the “art of caring” to others in our community. The Barren County 4-H Program has been identified as being a strong community service advocate.  The guidance counselors often compliment the 4-H’ers for their work in leadership and community service projects.  The community will have the ultimate benefit as youth become leaders to serve Barren County.