Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

4-H News

In September, 1997, the Arkansas Division of Volunteerism launched a state-wide program to encourage youth, grades K-12, to volunteer in their communities. The program, called Youth Service Arkansas, engages organized youth groups in projects that are beneficial to their cities and towns. Endorsed by the Arkansas Municipal League, the program invites interested youth groups and their leasers to contract with their hometown major to pledge and fulfill their community service commitments by April 1998, in time to be recognized on National Youth Service Day, April 21, 1998.

Terre Noire 4-H Club recently reported on an unusual community service the group undertook as part of a contract they signed with Gurdon May Rick W. Smith. Work parties include members of the club cut cedar trees and other woody vegetation between isolated prairie openings to allow for a "prescribed burn" to reach into area that has been missed in the past. The 4-H'ers also collected prairie seeds for replanting in degraded areas. Their efforts will go a long way toward the restoration of the Blackland Prairie. Contact adult leader, Kathryn Burchfield, at 870-246- 2281 for more information about the Terre Noire 4-H group and their community service projects.

The Arkansas Division of Volunteerism promotes and supports volunteerism in the private, nonprofit, and government sectors as a means of solving problems for all Arkansans. The division, housed in the Arkansas Department of Human Services, has offered technical assistance, information, and training on all aspects of volunteer program management and recognition since 1974.

For more information about Youth Service Arkansas or National Youth Service Day, call Jackie Stubblefield at the Arkansas Division of Volunteerism at 1-800-482-5850 Extension 27540.