Our club was very busy during the fall, and worked hard preparing for our numerous holiday community service projects.

In October, our club took two field trips. The first one was to the Joel Hill Sawmill in Lookout, PA, on October 2, prior to our October meeting at the Unity Grange Hall. The club got to see how logs were cut then, using hydropower from Duck Harbor.

We also attended the Haunted Lantern Tour at Fort Delaware in Narrowsburg, NY, on October 8. It was a full-moon night full of stories and surprises! Thank you to all of the people who made these educational and fun field trips possible.

Our club was present at the Wayne County 4-H Achievement Night on November 11, held at the Stourbridge Complex in Honesdale, PA. It was announced that we had provided the largest number of nonperishable items for the food-pantry drive, which Teen Council sponsored. We were also named the Wayne County Super Club of the Year. It was an exciting night for our members, leaders and parents.

With Thanksgiving soon on its way, the club planned the traditional Thanksgiving basket with all the fixings at our November 13 meeting. We give it to a local family who needed their spirits lifted. Our club chose to give the basket to the Hellmer family this year. Robert (Bob) Hellmer was the founding leader of our 4-H club, and passed away in August.

We also had our final collection of Books and Pajamas and Coats 4-Kids, all for Wayne County children and youth. We collected over 50 pairs of pajamas and books to go with them, and over 30 coats!  

At our November meeting, we also began work on our December community service projects.

The holidays are a special time and that is no exception for our club. We held our December 2 meeting at Elegante’s Restaurant in Honesdale, PA. We ate pizza and had lots of fun, but most importantly we did community service projects. We made sugar cookie-making kits for the Damascus Area Food Pantry, collected our donations for the VA hospital in Wilkes-Barre, PA, wrapped our Angel Family gifts, and finished up the last of the holiday greeting cards that we then gave to the residents at Ellen Memorial, Bethany Village, St. Francis Commons, Gino Merli VA Center in Scranton and the VA hospital in Wilkes-Barre.

Additionally, we held our 2022 club awards night on December 2. Congratulations to the following members who worked very hard to make this a year that we will never forget:  Dylan Burke, first-year Cloverbud; Olyvea Burke, seven-year member, club secretary, Outstanding Club Intermediate Member and County Secretary of the Year; Nathan Burke, first-year member; Paige Fiume, 11-year aged-out member; Andrew Friedenstine, four-year member and Outstanding Club Junior Member; Cora Friedenstine, three-year member and Outstanding Club Junior Member; Claire Goldstein, five-year member, club pledge leader, incoming news reporter and Honorary Club Junior Member; Gillian Goldstein, five-year member, club treasurer, incoming president and Honorary Senior Member; Natalie Goldstein, five-year member; Shiloh Hardler, two-year member; Carter Kennedy, one-year member; Elektra Kehagias, 11-year member, vice-president and Honorary Club Intermediate Member; Garrett Keninitz, one-year member; Emma Modrovsky, nine-year member, president and Outstanding Club Senior Member; Peter Modrovsky, eight-year member; Cade Rutledge, one-year member and Perfect Attendance; Channing Rutledge, eight-year member, Perfect Attendance, Outstanding Club Intermediate Member, news reporter/historian and County News Reporter of the Year; Sydney Rutledge, one-year member, Perfect Attendance and incoming pledge leader; Paige Rutledge, one-year member and Perfect Attendance.

The following leaders were recognized for their years of service to our club: Marissa Hoffman, seven years; Melissa Rutledge (Key Leader), 13 years; Natasha Brown, 15 years; and Rich Brown, 28 years. We had no “retiring leaders” this year, and Paige Fiume was our only aging-out member. The club gave Paige a gift bag with 4-H alumni swag and a certificate.

Are you thinking 4-H is the right community club for you? Are you looking for volunteer opportunities? Call the Penn State 4-H office in Honesdale at 570/253-5970.