4-H ‘safety’ club holds five meetings

On Tuesday, March 4, Kim Desserre, our leader, held the first “Safety First” meeting at her house.
To start off the meeting, she introduced a balancing activity to help the members get to know each other. Next we introduced ourselves and voted for our officers.
Luc Desserre was elected as president, Brock Vandenbrand as vice-president, Maria Vandenbrand as secretary, Jake Vandenbrand as treasurer, and Jessica Haw as press reporter.
The other club members are Damon and Nolan Short, Jordan Desserre, and Samantha Westover.
After Kim explained the times and dates of our future meetings, our club learned about electrical circuits through a fun activity.
We concluded our meeting and decided the next two would be held at Jessica Haw’s house.
On Saturday, March 8, our club met at Jessica Haw’s house for the second and third meetings. Kim placed hazardous objects in Jessica’s house and then the meeting began.
We started by reciting the 4-H pledge and then Maria Vandenbrand read the minutes of the last meeting. After that, we explored hazardous product symbols and learned what each meant.
Then we set paper crosses on all the hazardous areas in my house, and had a conversation about what was wrong with them and how we could fix them.
We read from our 4-H books and learned about general safety hazards in and around the home. Next we looked at the “Before the next meeting” request.
For the third meeting, we recited the pledge again and began looking at a lawnmower manual. We talked about how to be safe around and on a lawnmower and while using a grass trimmer.
Next, Kim Desserre passed out different kinds of ear plugs and safety glasses. We talked about how to use them and which kind would work the best.
Then we went outside and learned about how to shovel snow without hurting your back. We found out that you should point your feet to where you are going to throw the snow so you don’t twist your back.
Jessica haw’s brother, Mitchell, then gave us a demonstration of how to operate a snowblower safely.
When we returned inside, we ended with the “Taking the Safe Path” activity and the “Before the next meeting” request.
The 4-H club met for our fourth meeting in the Morley municipal office with a first aid instructor.
Luc Desserre started the meeting, our secretary read the minutes, and everyone answered the roll call.
Next, the first aid instructor, Cheryl Kallaste, introduced herself to everyone and showed us the content of a first aid kit. Then she briefly talked about triangle bandages and explained how you could use them.
After a short break, Cheryl showed us how to use a defibrillator and explained how it is used to save lives. Kim and Luc then concluded the meeting.
Our Pine River club then met at Our Lady of the Way School for our bike safety meeting. First, Luc completed the business of the meeting and then OPP Cst. McCoy took over.
She began by showing us a movie about bike safety. After that, we went outside and checked if we had complete control over our bikes.
Then we learned the signals for turning left, right, and stopping, and practised them while riding our bikes on the road.
When we finished, Cst. McCoy checked if our helmets were Canadian approved. After returning inside, we were given excellent bike safety handouts.
For our last meeting, we will be going to Lake of the Woods School swimming pool in Baudette, where Mark Mast will be teaching us about pool safety.
We then will be going upstairs to have our achievement program and share what we’ve gone through on the project.