Our club has been very busy during the months of October and November.

On October 9, we had a fun evening at the Haunted Lantern Tour. The tour took place at Fort Delaware in Narrowsburg, NY. Our club vice-president, Elektra Kehagais, and her mom Teresa were actors on the tour. We held our monthly meeting at the outdoor picnic area before the tour.

The Coats 4 Kids collection took place throughout the month of October. We were able to donate 34 new or gently used coats to Wayne County Children and Youth Services. The coats were delivered by our key-leader, Melissa Rutledge, on November 5. Roz Burke, executive director, and Beth Thomas, social service aide, received our donations just in time for the winter weather.

Many members attended the Wayne County 4-H Achievement Day on October 23. In conjunction with Achievement Day, the fall Round-Up for Pumpkins, Onions, Potatoes and Poultry was held. Channing Rutledge, club member, was the grand champion and reserve grand champion pumpkin-grower this year.

Gillian Goldstein was named outstanding county treasurer and Channing Rutledge was named outstanding county news reporter. Our club was named a 2021 Green Club. Green Club status means the club has exceeded expectations throughout the 2020-2021 4-H year.

November began with a collection of leftover Halloween candy; club members and community members turned in a club record of 33 pounds. The Unity Grange Hall allowed us to have a collection bin at the November general election.

The candy was then shipped to Operation Gratitude, which distributes the candy to our military overseas and our first responders in the United States. It was also the day that our annual fall bake sale fundraiser returned! Thank you to everyone who supported our bake sale. Our fundraisers help us fund over 27 community service projects each year.

We held our November meeting and club awards night on Sunday, November 14 at the Lookout Firehall. It was a busy afternoon spent making Christmas cards, completing a STEM project and making cookies and walking tacos.

For STEM, the members had fun making invisible ink drawings. Brea Rutledge, a Tri-Gal 4-H Club alumni, returned to make alfajores cookies to go with our walking tacos for an edible ethics and diversity project.

To see who received awards or recognition, visit https://www.riverreporter.com and click on the Community Living tab.

Our club members donated items to make a Thanksgiving dinner basket for the family of Robert Muller, who was a long-time volunteer in the Wayne County 4-H program, grandfather to club leader Jessica Freidenstine and great-grandfather to Andrew and Cora. The Muller family received the basket on November 19.

This has been a traditional community service project for our club for over 20 years and is a favorite activity.

We are looking forward to our Christmas pizza party, meeting and the December community service projects that we will be working on at the meeting.

If you are interested in joining a club near you or being a screened volunteer, call the Penn State Extension Office, Wayne County at 570/253-5970 ext. 4110.

“Wayne County 4-H—Making it through tough times together.”