'A Night at the Ranch' nets $100K to benefit 4-H kids
<p>More than 600 wine and dine as they auction on Thursday at the Rosenberger family's Rocking R Ranch in Hayden.</p>
<p>Shelley Rosenberger speaks to attendees at the third-annual 4H fundraiser on Thursday at her family's Rocking R Ranch in Hayden.</p>
<p>Pheiffer Rosenberger, 8, showcases pigs she raised and cares for while at the Rocking R Ranch's third-annual 4H fundraising event in Hayden.</p>
<p>Ryan Bones and Cassidy Miller of Coeur d'Alene pet Woody the goat on Thursday at the Rocking R Ranch's third-annual 4H fundraiser as Woody's owner, Baylee Crupper, talks about what it was like to raise him as part of the 4H program.</p>
HAYDEN — A crowd of about a dozen gathered around a pen where 8-year-old Pheiffer Rosenberger shared her extensive swine knowledge while showing off her pigs, Bubbles and Oreo.
With a bright orange spray bottle in hand, she splashed the pigs with water in the late Thursday heat.
“They don’t have sweat glands,” she said. “They’re a mammal, right? They’re one of the only mammals that does not have sweat glands. That’s why I spray them, because they don’t have sweat glands to keep them cool.
?“And they actually do bark,” she said when Bubbles started running around the pen and “barking” with excitement.
Pheiffer and other youths exhibited their 4-H animals during the “Night at the Ranch” benefit event at the Rosenberger Ranch in Hayden, where more than 600 people gathered for an evening of socializing and raising funds for local 4-H youths.
This was the third year for the event, which featured a premium tri-tip dinner, refreshments, live music by Nashville artist
Terri Clark, a lively auction with a variety of items, a cowboy booty-shaking contest, dancing and much more.
Last year’s event raised more than $100,000.
“The reason I’m here is because Ron and Shelley (Rosenberger) are very generous people who support a very worthy charity, 4-H, and the kids involved in it couldn’t be any better and more dedicated,” said event guest John Lasher of Coeur d’Alene. “Any money raised is for the most worthy cause imaginable.”
The ?4-H program is a Congress-sanctioned and widely supported network of youth organizations dedicated to helping kids ages 5 to about 18 realize their full potentials. One of the central programs of 4-H is raising livestock, which kiddos can do at the age of 8.
Idaho ?4-H is managed by the University of Idaho. Jim Lindstrom, 4-H state program director, said the Gem State has more than 14,000 4-H club members and 56,000 program participants.
“A lot of people have no idea what 4-H does, but you walk around and talk and they say, ‘How can I get my kid involved?’” he said. “Isn’t this a great event? Just look around. This is a really cool event. The coolest thing it does is we get a lot of publicity for 4-H and it really supports local programs in the Coeur d’Alene area.”
Ron Rosenberger, who was a 4-H kid himself, said he and his family appreciate of all the community support, especially the attending business owners “who know that 4-H kids are the next generation of the workforce.”
“You learn life skills,” he said of 4-H. “Work ethic’s probably the biggest.”
He said all of the funds raised at the event will support the 4-H kids at their auction at the North Idaho State Fair.
“The kids work all summer with their projects and they sell them at the auction,” he said. “This is support money to boost the sale.”
Annika Peterson, 13, of Rathdrum, is raising a steer for her 4-H project. She began raising livestock when she was 8.
“I’m really shy, and 4-H has helped with that,” she said. “It’s good to learn what happens to animals before the butcher, it’s good to know that they’ve had a good life.”
Annika said she thinks it’s cool that so many people would come out to support 4-H.
Pheiffer also thought it was pretty awesome: “It actually feels like we’re the kings and the queens of the animal world.”