Program Support

Community 4-H Programs

It is the mission of the South Dakota 4-H Foundation to provide private resources to ensure South Dakota’s youth have opportunities to learn leadership, citizenship, character and life skills through 4-H community based youth programs.

Here are some of the program funded fully or in part, by the South Dakota 4-H Foundation.

Leadership

Partnership with Collegiate 4-H Coordinators from left to right:  Miranda  Reiman, Kristie Storms, Kayla Morrill - receiving a $4,300 grant check for Collegiate 4-H Club from SD 4-H Foundation

“The Foundation values the partnership with the Collegiate 4-H which began in 1993.  Each year the Collegiate 4-H members help people understand what 4-H is currently doing.  In turn, the 4-H Foundation helps Collegiate 4-H by providing funds for their club activities, service projects and leadership programs.  It is their way of giving something back to 4-H.” said LaNell Quam, Development Associate, SD 4-H Foundation. Over the last years, the South Dakota 4-H foundation has provided collegiate 4-H in grants.

Citizenship

4-Hers Present Hero Packs to Children of Deployed Soldiers Son of a National Guard member receives a HERO pack

Yankton County 4-Hers presented backpacks to the children of National Guard troop members at the Yankton activation. The backpacks were secured by the South Dakota 4-H Foundation through a partnership between National 4-H and the Department of Defense. The term Hero Pack is being used to signify that each soldier is truly a hero and we are grateful to the children for sharing their parent with all of America. Each backpack includes a disposable camera, a 4-H Bear, stationary and other materials.

4-H and Kids Voting - A Citizenship Partnership Youth from both groups work together

Working together to deliver a citizenship program to school age youth on how the voting process works, school teachers from the Kids Voting network train 4-H teen leaders how to deliver the educational materials in the classroom. This partnership also supports the Citizenship Pillar of the 4-H Character Counts! program. The Surfit-Stone Corporation of Sioux Falls Provided the Citizenship Boxes which hold the materials.

4-H Character Counts!

4-H Foundation with 4-H Council/Ambassadors on Hurricane Katrina Project 4-Hers at Avera sites pack the Katrina backpacks

4-H Council/Ambassadors helped local 4-H clubs fill backpacks with winter clothes and letters to be sent to the children of Hurricane Katrina. The backpacks were delivered to five Avera sites (Aberdeen, Brookings, Mitchell, Sioux Falls and Yankton), packed in boxes and the Avera sites paid the postage to send them off. A total of 151 backpacks were sent from South Dakota Families to families in Mississippi. Avera Health is the statewide 4-H sponsor of the Caring Pillar of Character Counts.

In the end, over 2000 4-H "I Care" boxes were sent to South Dakota National Guard troops in Iraq. Hundreds of South Dakota 4-Hers worked with the South Dakota 4-H Foundation and local donors to supply the boxes that were shipped overseas. Statewide donors providing items for the troops included: South Dakota Beef Council, South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, Avera McKennan, South Dakota Soybean Association, Dakota Style Chips, and Surfit-Stone Container Corporation.

Life Skills

4-H After School Science project

A pilot project in Sioux Falls is bringing science-based 4-H curriculum to 300 kids in first through sixth grades. Many of these youth are from low income, multicultural neighborhoods with limited opportunities to participate in academic-based after school activities. Their teachers will be older youth participation in the 4-H Teens as Teachers program.