From Sea to Shining Sea

Alaska, New York, and Minnesota - those are a few of the states the Douglas County 4-H Exchange group has visited in the past decade. Friends, experiences, and fun have all been gained from the travel to states throughout the country.

The 4-H exchange is a great way to learn about 4-H in other places. As a member of the group, a 4-Her earns money through fundraising activites to pay for travel every other year and to host 4-Hers from another state on the opposite years. The biggest fundraisers are the Annual Spaghetti Dinner and Auction held each February and the Peach Sale in July and August.
This year our group will host ten 4-H members and their chaperones from Delaware. Our members are learning a lot about organizing travel through studying different parts of Colorado and then making plans to take our guests to the mountains and also entertain them in Douglas County. Our 4-H friends will arrive on June 16 and they will be staying with our Douglas County exchange families in order to see what 4-H is like in Colorado. We'll bid them good-bye on June 21.

Next year our ten Douglas County exchange members will travel to Delaware, see historic landmarks, visit the Atlantic Ocean, and learn about living in another beautiful part of our country. Along the way some great friendships will be made and many lessons will be learned.

If you have an interesting story to tell about a 4-H exchange you participated in, please post a comment. If you are interested in learning more about the exchange program, give the extension office a call.

Thanks for reading,

Mary Baldwin