Lancaster County 4-H presents a Heart of 4-H Award to a Lancaster County 4-H volunteer each month in recognition of outstanding volunteer serice. The purpose of this award is to recognize volunteers who are, indeed, the heart of 4-H.
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Kaiya has volunteered for 4-H since she aged out as a youth member almost five years ago. She is a co-leader for the South Prairie 4-H rabbit club which is based in southern Lancaster County. She is also a member of the Rabbit Volunteers in Program Service (VIPS) committee, helps teach at the rabbit fall clinics, and helps set up for the rabbit spring shows and Lancaster County Super Fair rabbit shows.
She says, “As a 4-H volunteer, my favorite experience is county fair time. The hard work of preparing activities for each club meeting, and Rabbit VIPS committee fair planning and setup has payed off.”
South Prairie 4-H’er Rhianna Metcalf says, “Kaiya pushes us to do better and improve our skills, but she also makes it fun. She has made a rabbit Jeopardy game, flashcards, fact sheets and has given several demonstrations — all to help us excel.”
4-H volunteer Suzi Dearmont says, “I first met Kaiya the day she got her first rabbit from a garage sale. She soon joined our 4-H club, South Prairie Wranglers, led by Kendra Ronnau. Quiet by nature, Kaiya didn’t do a lot of talking during the meetings, but she was obviously doing a lot of rabbit reading/studying outside of the meetings. Once Kaiya had a solid base knowledge of rabbits, she was never too timid to help anyone out — whether or not the child was a member of her 4-H club. Eventually, Kaiya was a junior leader for our rabbit club and she gave it her all. Kaiya still demonstrates her caring heart by continuing to help after being aged out of 4-H for several years.”