4-H Leadership Team Update

Updated September 17, 2026

I hope you can all say your life is more interesting because you volunteer with 4-H! And, I know each of you can say you made a difference. Thank you for saying YES! to volunteering with Redwood County 4-H. Words will never fully express my deepest appreciation for all you do for our kids!! Thank you

Stacy J will be on medical leave September 25, 2026 - Mid November/December 1 (at the latest I hope). And, in true Redwood County spirit, we have volunteers taking on several roles to provide support to our 4-H programs during my absence. Please read on for more information and details.

These roles are especially important as we enter a time of transitional leadership in Redwood County. Thank you all for your leadership and support of our incredible 4-H program!

Federation/Clubs:

• Charter Volunteer Club Leader Support: Andrea Bents
• Federation Support: Krista Zeug
• Clubs in charge of the Advisory Board Rotation: Valley Blazers, Shooting Sports, Milroy Go-Getters, and Springdale Climbers is through September 2027.
• Representative includes representation at each Federation meeting. November 2, 2026, January 4, 2027, and May 3, 2027.

4-H Members:

• Ambassadors: Henley O - youth. Adult chaperone(s) still needed.
• Youth Educators: Redwood Area School Junior Cardinal Care Program, Wabasso Care Corner Program, and Lamberton ROC program all are in need of youth leaders. Let the 4-H office know if you have interested members! 507-637-4025.

Animal Science:

• Animal Science updates: Paul Zeug
• County Fair Speaker System: Glen Netzke

Fundraisers:

• Technical Support for 2027 Fruit and Food Sales: Adam and Mirinda Goblish
• Product drop of fruit and food sales: Lamberton Leprechauns
• Auction and Horse Showcase Bio Updates: Adam Goblish (updating the format)

4-H Staff:

• 4-H Office Support staff and guru: Jessica Huhnerkoch 507-637-4025

Extension Committee:

• November Impact Report: Karen Beranek

Family Fun Day:

• Family Fun Day Support: Sunktanka (help set up meal service - catered) and Golden Gophers (help with set up of education event and prize tables) All clubs help bring salads and desserts. Main meal is catered.

Food Stand-County Fair

• Food Stand Committee: Valley Blazers and Springdale Climbers - 1 - 2 people per club needed April, June, and July.

Lamberton ROC Education Series:

• November Series Nov 17, 24 & Dec 1
• Karen Beranek back up

We all know 4-H community clubs provide tremendous experience for our 4-H'ers. Connections on the local level are paramount to our community and our 4-Hclub programs. They are also important for club recruitment. You and your club members are the best recruiters - hands down!

Suggesting the following activity(s)

• Consider hosting a 4-H project day or activity day (you title it as you wish). Timing and activities is up to the club and invite the community to attend.
• Consider setting up a tour for the fall - Painted Prairie Winery newly offered to do tours and set up education related activities appropriate for kids. Slayton and Holmberg both have apple orchards. Or consider the fall/halloween mazes and activities we find locally.
• Remember, We have some funding available to reimburse our 4-H clubs for your supplies. Up to $300/club for educational activities.

Looking ahead: Your club educational packet coming out in January will include information/activities centered around landfills. Lyon County is where our landfill items go. They will do Tours in the spring and summer.

Opportunity: I had the opportunity to review some of the learn and lead surveys our 4-H'ers completed during county fair. Full of interesting information. What I learned is we often use the terms interchangeably. However, our youth are not. As an example; In our survey it referred to showcase where some youth said they were not participating. Yet, they were participating in county fair thus they did participate in our showcase. Similar comments here and there regarding civic engagement.

Community Pride/engagement: Each year we ask clubs to complete a community pride project to showcase how 4-H connects our kids to our community and to service. Each club does a good job of this! This year if you share your "photo journal" with our office by the end of June we will add your club photos to our video slide for the county fair.

• Remember to help the 4-H'ers make those connections to service and civic engagement and how important their time spent in this area in our communities is! Your clubs make a great impact on our communities!
• Participating in County Fair on its own is civic engagement as we are representing our local communities at the county celebration.

Club Projects - We are asking clubs to complete at least 1 county fair project and encourage you to use this to showcase your club and use it as a recruitment tool. This could be each person creates their own project or 4-H'ers work in teams. Feel free to exhibit your club projects along with your club booth. Kids will participate in judging independently and showcase their project together with the club. Why Club projects? This helps the club learn new information together and helps new to 4-H families experience project learning and project development. New learning is also very healthy for all of our brains!

Club Leaders, this is the time to start discussing transitioning the adult leadership within the club. As many of you know I highly recommend transitioning in a 3 year rotation. Leader elect, co-Leader moving into co-Leader (final year). "Term" limits are also helpful to make this role less scary so our families are aware they do not have to commit to becoming the forever leader.

To make this transition less scary for families/members we need to include families in leadership roles within your clubs to allow experiential learning to happen and confidence to grow in our leaders. It is very easy for we leaders to make decisions for others like "I can't ask them because................" and then choose to complete the task ourself. This is how our plates get too full and can get frustrating. Please work to have families take roles. Your fall back to 4-H club meeting is a great place to get the process started.

Ask me about the plate method if you want help spreading the roles to others.

4-H Club Charters can be started now. The drop dead due date is November 2, 2026 where you can drop off both your club charter and reconciled treasury book.

• Sunktanka and Shooting Sports Charter Forms: Fillable Form
• All other clubs Charter Form: Fillable Form

Resources:

Andrea Bents is our volunteer club resource and can help answer questions: 507-829-5062

Tips:

• Those clubs managing funds - your starting amounts should equal your ending amount last year. 4-H staff can help you with in needed. 4-H Office will share your starting numbers with you.
• All your club officers or youth listed on your forms must be actively enrolled for the 2026-2027 year. New year enrollment can begin October 1.
• All your club leaders and screened volunteers listed on your charters must be actively enrolled. Their 4-H online account should say approved.

Last piece of information in this update for you. Thank you for staying with me throughout all the information!

I wanted to let you know I will be ending full time employment and stepping down from my position as Local Extension Educator effective January 2027. I feel it is in the best interest of Redwood County 4-H to open the doors to new leadership. I hope to be allowed to continue to provide support in a manner helpful to all. And, I look forward to cheering on the exciting new adventures and the continuation of excellence in Redwood County 4-H!

The future is bright in Redwood County 4-H! Thank you all for your work and support of our 4-H program over the years. Redwood is so very lucky each of you are part of our 4-H program!!

Best Wishes to All!!

Stacy Johnson