Summertime can be an exciting time of the year. However, it can be a very expensive time for parents. In Lee County, Kentucky the median family income is $21,185.00 per household. For a family to pay $245.00 per camper to participate in 4-H camp, in many cases is not going to be affordable for many families. The Lee County Extension District Board and 4-H Council took this into consideration. The District Board paid $153.75 per camper and the 4-H Council paid for the volunteers and teen leaders. The campers were only responsible for $70. This year was very unique due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Restrictions, masking, and social distancing were enforced this year for everyone’s safety. This was the first time since 2019, that we were able to attend 4-H camp, and that combined with COVID restrictions and higher camp cost had agents concerned about applications dwindling. To their surprise, Lee County had; 1 adult volunteer, 4 teens/teens in training, and 16 campers attend Feltner 4-H Camp. Even with all the changes, there were two first time campers to join Lee County. 

Along with all the camp activities, the Lee County campers had a step contest. Pedometers were given to the campers on day one to help track their steps and they restarted each day. The average daily step count was about 6,000, with a few breaking 15,000 and on the last day one camper broke 20,000 steps. The young people became more aware of how many steps they were actually getting each day and went out of their way to get more steps.  

-“I’m wanting to apply for camp staff next year.” –Adult Volunteer