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.
See All Heart of 4-H Winners
Lincoln Northeast Kiwanis member and Nebraska Extension Poultry Specialist Dick Earl started hatching baby chicks in a Lincoln classroom in 1975. Embryology became a Lancaster County 4-H school enrichment program the following year.
In 1991, when there were more classrooms than fertile chick eggs, Dick partnered with Northeast Kiwanis and Nebraska Poultry Industries to secure funding, order and deliver the fertile eggs to the Extension office. Currently, Kiwanis members drive 430 miles round-trip to a hatchery in Iowa three times a year to deliver a total 210 dozen eggs! Last school year, nearly 4,000 Lancaster County third graders in 186 classrooms at 57 schools participated in Embryology, thanks to the support of Northeast Kiwanis. In 2002, when Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County started EGG Cam to hatch chicks live on the internet, Northeast Kiwanis donated $400 for video equipment. Since then, EGG Cam at http://go.unl.edu/eggcam has had countless viewers and gained recognition and requests from around the world.
Kiwanis member Rick Waldren says, “We are proud to be involved in this fantastic program that benefits so many children in the Lincoln area. #KidsNeedKiwanis.”