Here's why 4-H matters

To say that I am concerned about the proposed funding cut for the Extension Services in Kootenai County is a grave understatement. I am scared.

The Extension Office provides so many valuable services and benefits to our community, which help create responsible, strong, self-reliant citizens.

But, the specific extension program I am focusing on in this letter is 4-H. 4-H is about helping develop the character and personal integrity of our youth.

4-H teaches self-reliance and responsibility at an early age, helping our youth as they begin making their own personal decisions. 4-H is "NOT" about herding youth around to various activities and keeping them busy, therefore, out of trouble. 4-H encourages and supports youth by providing real life skills, plus decision-making, community service and leadership opportunities. These real life experiences are what create self-esteem in our youth.

Our modern, busy world is becoming so detached from the sensibilities of life. In "The Last Child in the Woods," a national best selling book by Richard Louv, he writes of the unbalance and confusion many of our youth experience because they are so detached from nature's lessons and responsibilities. Mr. Louv specifically sites a 4-H club's ability to turn around a dyslexic youth. We have many such examples here in Kootenai County.

I understand the need for budget cuts, but I implore our elected leaders to display their leadership skills and find out what, as a community, we would really lose if we cut 4-H. 4-H should not be spared the cutting block because it is a "popular program" as stated in a recent Cd'A Press editorial. 4-H needs to survive because we can't afford to live without it. This program builds and develops accountability, character and leadership skills in our youth. 4-H works like no other program I have ever been involved with works, and it has worked for generations at such a high level of performance, why would we choose to bring it to the chopping block? I have worked with youth for 33 years as a school counselor in Bonner and Kootenai counties. I have watched programs come and go. 4-H is the real deal ...

I am imploring Mr. Hayes and the County Commissioners to find another solution to our county budget woes. 4-H is preventive and productive. I believe the majority of Kootenai County would rather pay the relatively small yearly expense of running the County Extension Office than deal with the void left if this program should be cut. This is not the legacy our current County Commissioners want to leave with our community.

The 4-H motto is recited at every 4-H meeting. "I pledge my head to clear thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service and my health to better living for my club, my community, my country and my world."

Cheryl Ann Stransky is a resident of Dalton Gardens.