• By April Bowman
• Posted Monday, September 20, 2010

4-H'ers Help Fight Hunger!

The Trailblazers 4-H Club and their families volunteered to help harvest produce at the Second Harvest Food Bank's local garden. The club had volunteers to pick peppers, okra, and tomatoes on two different nights in early September. We also pulled weeds, picked soy beans, and even picked a tomatillo which was new to most of us. Hope Arrowood, 4-H club member, said "I love volunteering at the garden. We help the hungry while having fun with our friends and learning new things." This is the second year the club has helped in the Second Harvest's garden and they plan to help again next year.

To combat hunger the NC 4-H Youth Development program and the Food Banks of North Carolina, all of which are affiliates of Feeding AmericaTM, our nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, have teamed up to promote awareness of hunger in North Carolina and to make an impact in local communities through a new hunger awareness initiative entitled “Hungry to Help.”

According to Dr. Marshall Stewart, State 4-H Leader, “Exciting plans are underway to prepare 4-H’ers, 4-H volunteers and alumni to host a variety of hunger awareness programs, canned food drives (virtual and real) and sponsor hunger related volunteer efforts in their local communities. Extension offices across the state will become “drop-off” locations for canned food collections and the entire Extension family is gearing up to prepare participants to be citizen leaders for hunger relief.”

The Forsyth County Extension Center is open from 8:00 until 5:00 Monday through Friday. Residents are invited to drop off non-perishable food items to help toward this effort. For additional information, please contact April Bowman, 4-H Extension Agent, at 4H@forsyth.cc or by phone at 703-2855.