Please join us for our fifth annual 4-H Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, March 9, at the Boyle County Extension Office. Hot, fresh stacks will be served from 8 to 10 a.m. by local 4-H youth and volunteers. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day (and 4-H), youth can request our special green pancakes!
Tickets are $5 per person and are available by calling or visiting the Boyle County Extension Office. Tickets can be reserved at the door to pick up when you arrive on Saturday morning. Call Mary Catherine or Cindy at (859) 236-4484 to purchase tickets.
4-H is the largest youth development organization in America … and Boyle County. Boyle County 4-H enrolls more than 3,000 local young people annually; that’s more than 50 percent of all the young people ages 0-18 in our community. It takes real money to purchase supplies, provide awards, conduct trips, certify volunteers and award scholarships for programs involving that many youth.
Funds raised through the pancake breakfast will be used in our monthly school clubs where youth learn about leadership, citizenship, science and practical living skills. Some will be spent on our Talk Meet program that produced two area winners this year who are headed for the statewide contest in July. Plenty goes to support summer camp and to provide scholarships for youth to attend.
We spend these dollars on financial education programs, such as Dollars and Sense for fourth- and fifth-graders. Reality Store is an annual staple for eighth- and 10th-graders. Seniors participate in Reality World as they prepare for post-secondary education.
Even more is spent on K-third graders learning about healthy food and lifestyle choices with Professor Popcorn. Our first Truth and Consequences reality event at Boyle County High School this week helped young people see the consequences of risky behaviors involving drugs and alcohol.
Providing free monthly 4-H projects for the boys at Sunrise, youth at Kentucky School for the Deaf, and after-school participants at Hogsett Elementary takes a tremendous amount of money. We also support the scores of youth completing projects of all descriptions from cooking and crafting to sheep and shotgun through clubs and project groups.
The funding for 4-H staff, office support and programming comes from the Boyle County Extension District Board and the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. However the dollars we hand to young people for prizes, awards and scholarships and to buy the equipment, supplies and materials we use in our clubs, projects, camps and school enrichment programs come from the Boyle County 4-H Council, an independent entity that depends upon grants and fundraising.
The pancake breakfast is just one of the ways the 4-H Council supplements its annual grant from Heart of Kentucky United Way.
As you might guess, educating more than 3,000 young people takes a significant amount of money. Please help us continue to reach the young people of Danville and Boyle County by supporting our pancake breakfast on March 9. If you can’t make it, please consider donating items to or buying from our 4-H Yard Sale planned for May 10-11. And donations to support your favorite club, project, or subject are always welcome.
For more information about Boyle County 4-H or to purchase tickets for the pancake breakfast, please friend us on Facebook (Boyle Cty Extension), visit our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/#!/boyle.extension), follow us on Twitter (@BoyleCtyExtensi), visit our website (ces.ca.uky.edu/boyle/4HYouthDevelopment), call us at (859) 236-4484 or email cesboyle@uky.edu. We are a Heart of Kentucky United Way partner agency.
