Skip to content

Highland 4-H Club sees growth despite pandemic

Club has persevered and grown in 2020.
24515009_web1_210318-OMH-Highland-4-H-Club-Community-Spirit_1
The Highland 4-H Club’s B-Leader, Irene Tinney said that the club is looking for new ways to fundraise to support the club this year. (Patrick Davies photo - 100 Mile Free Press)

It had no money when it started last year but the Highland 4-H Club has persevered and grown over 2020 despite complications arising from the pandemic.

Karli-Rae Ross, vice-president and treasurer of the Highland 4-H Club, said the group has had to do a lot of fundraising amidst COVID-19 to fund everything for the 22 members they started with. However, she said that the process was good in the long run as it strengthened the sense of community the group already had.

“I’m personally extremely excited to see what 2021 brings us as we’re off to a better start than last year,” Ross said, adding that sentiment is being felt throughout the club.

Irene Tinney, the club’s B-Leader, said the group was fortunate to receive a grant from Save-On-Foods to help fund its marketing but they still need to work on fundraising. 4-H B.C. is currently doing the Gator Lottery online, where a percentage of donations go to the club of your choice, while the Highland Club is collecting bottles from the community. Tinney is also considering an online auction along with alternatives to their usual baking and hot dogs sales.

“Everything we can’t fundraise for, the kids have to pay,” Tinney said.

Tinney said she believes there can never be enough 4-H clubs, which is why the Highland 4-H Club split off from the Lone Butte 4-H Club two years ago. Having a smaller club tends to be nicer for its members, in her experience, allowing for more one-on-one time with leaders. Their club is currently made up of 27 children.

“2020 it was ok. Obviously, no one really knew what was going on so you constantly had to adjust to what was possible and what was not,” Tinney said. “We planned a big auction last year, that didn’t work out. The kids still got their animals and we tried to do as much project work as we could and then we did not have a show of course.”

This year she said the club is taking things one step at a time and have held its first few project meetings and club meetings. While they can’t be as social as they usually are, Tinney said the club members still seem enthusiastic to be participating.

Ross, 16, said the appeal of 4-H comes from finding new ways to challenge herself and enhance her skill set. Ross has been involved in 4-H since 2015 when she joined the Lone Butte 4-H Club and has taken the opportunity to experiment with all sorts of projects including beef, swine and especially photography.

“I was interested in photography at the time so when I found out they had a photography project, I was very inclined to check it out. I kind of just fell in love with it and I’ve been a member ever since,” Ross said.

This year Ross is doing a senior management photography project where she’ll be assisting the photography leader in teaching photography to new members. She enjoys the fact that nothing is set in stone when it comes to photography and that you can experiment with it and find ways to express your creativity.

Ross has also decided to challenge herself with an aquaculture project, in which she’ll be raising trout, which is the first time she’s done anything like it.

“I was looking for something new and kind of a challenge. I stumbled across the aquaculture project and this year I took the leap and decided ‘what’s the worst that can happen?”

Gauge Bishop, 11, is looking forward to raising pigs again for the third year in a row. His pig this year is a cross between a Duroc, a Yorkshire and a Landrace. He first joined the 4-H club in kindergarten and is now in Grade 6.

Outside of pig raising, Gauge really enjoys the public speaking side of the 4-H club when members prepare speeches to give to their peers. One year, a friend’s older sister gave a speech on the history of WWII, which he’s passionate about, and inspired him to do his own speech on the topic the next year.

“It’s actually another way for me to hang out with my friends and learn a lot,” Gauge said. “Not even just having animals but doing the book work teaches you all sorts of life skills. Speaking in front of people when you’re doing speeches you learn how to overcome or at least deal with stage fright.”

Along with Gauge, his younger sister Cali is also a member of the Highland 4-H Club in her last year of being a Cloverbud. While he likes that his sister is a part of the club, Gauge said she can be annoying in the meetings sometimes.

Cali, 8, is looking forward to doing a poultry project this year where she’ll be raising ducks, once she receives them. She said she joined the club because Gauge was a member and she thought it’d be fun.

“I like playing with the animals,” Cali said. “I love animals, they’re probably one of my favourite things in the whole entire world.”

The one thing she doesn’t like about 4-H Club is that, as a Cloverbud, she’s not old enough to go with the club to the annual show and sale in Williams Lake. However, this is the third and last year before she’ll become a full member of the club which makes her both excited and nervous.

Gauge and Cali’s mom, Courtney White, said the 4-H club is an amazing program for her children. In addition to teaching them how to raise animals, White said it teaches them self-reliance and teamwork and how to make important decisions.

“There’s so much that it can offer them to really give them a foot ahead,” White said, adding she intends to enrol her youngest son, Colter, in the club once he’s of age.

Anyone looking to help the club can reach out to her at 250-395-2396.

24515009_web1_210318-OMH-Highland-4-H-Club-Community-Spirit_2
The Bishop siblings are all enthusiastic about taking part in the 4-H Club activities. Gauge (left) and Cali are both members of the Highland 4-H Club while their little brother Colter will be joining once he’s old enough. (Photo submitted)


Patrick Davies

About the Author: Patrick Davies

An avid lover of theatre, media, and the arts in all its forms, I've enjoyed building my professional reputation in 100 Mile House.
Read more