It’s not uncommon for those out of the know in the Rainy River District to think that 4-H Club is nothing but beef in the summer, but the club is working to prove that there’s a project for everyone, and welcomes new volunteers to help run them.
The Rainy River 4-H Association is one of dozens, if not hundreds, of such clubs and associations across Canada, all part of an organization that helps to connect youth and adults to their communities to make them better places for all. While the organization has its association with agriculture and farming due to its many projects that focus on topics like raising cattle, club organizers note that there are plenty of other side roads offered through the 4-H Club, called projects, so long as there are volunteers willing to take them on and youth eager to learn more.
“It’s always out push to try and get people from town involved,” said 4-H volunteer Tracey Haglin.
“Whether it be Emo, Barwick, Fort Frances, because there are so many clubs out there that are available. It’s just that the volunteers don’t always have the time because of the time commitment. It’s phenomenal when you read through the project book, because there’s small engines, there’s farm safety, there’s so much more than just an ag-based kind of education, but there’s so much of it that can be pulled back to [agriculture] too. There used to be a big Potato Club in the district that started, oh gosh, I don’t know, it was one of the first clubs, and that was about 100 years ago.”
Haglin noted the 4-H project book has such varied projects for STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] learning and financial fitness, among others. Even among agricultural topics there are more on offer that move away from raising an animal for sale. This year volunteers ran a Farm Veterinary Project that saw interested youth learn more about veterinary practice and information. Haglin also noted that while the Rainy River District’s 4-H activities usually run through the spring and summer, there are other opportunities to run projects outside of those seasons on a year-round basis.
“There’s all kinds of stuff if we could just find the right kind of people that would want to join as volunteers to host some of it,” she said.
“There’s an ice fishing club, there’s a summer fishing club. There’s other stuff out there. We have lots of volunteers, but we also have lots of volunteers that are potentially all kind of involved in the same things… it’s trying to find what would benefit the district in regards to a club that’s going to pull those kids that aren’t necessarily involved in [beef clubs, or other extracurriculars]. There’s a curling club. There’s a pasta club. We’ve had a bread club.”
Part of the draw of the beef club, Haglin said, is that the members get a big final showoff for their work at the Emo Fair, where other projects don’t have the same big finishing event, but the other clubs can still appeal to youth who might not be as interested in raising an animal.
The process of joining the 4-H association as a volunteer to lead a new project is relatively straightforward. According to the 4-H Ontario website, potential volunteers are required to be at least 18 years old, complete a volunteer candidate acceptance process to ensure the safety of youth in the program, and update their police checks and child protection training, and attending a learning opportunity every three years. Applicants get forwarded to their local association, where a panel then screens and checks to ensure the applicant is a good fit for the program. After that, it’s a matter of expressing interest in a particular project, even if you don’t necessarily have any knowledge of the project itself.
“That’s the wildest thing,” Haglin explained.
“Anybody who enjoys working with kids and learning things is a great option for a volunteer, because the 4-H Ontario provides you with the program material. It’s just something you can access online and print off, and then you can have subject specialists come to your meeting and help with the topic. We’re kicking around the idea of having a small engine club, but we haven’t got it all straightened out or finalized yet. And I know nothing about small engines, but my brother and another friend are pretty good with small engines, so they’ve agreed that they would step in and do some things with the kids, just as a volunteer, not a screened volunteer. As long as you have two screened volunteers, you can run a club and have specialties come in, which is great because then you don’t have to worry about knowing a lot about the topic.”
The Rainy River 4-H Association is gearing up for its annual awards dinner, scheduled this year at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 28, at the Stratton Millenium Hall. The banquet is one of two major milestones in the district for the Club following the annual Steer Sale at the Emo Fall Fair. This year Haglin said 35 4-H Club members had an animal in the sale at the Fair across four beef clubs running in the district. However, the banquet will also recognize the youth who took part in 4-H in different clubs outside of the beef clubs. The banquet is free to attend for all 2025 4-H members, as well as kids ages 5 and under, and tickets for the public are $15 for adults.
