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About Carbon County Carbon County is well known for it’s anthracite coal which was discovered in 1791 by Philip Ginder. America’s First Railroad…The Switchback railroad, was built in 1827 by Josiah White. Originally designed to carry coal, the Switchback ran for nine miles from Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk (known today as Jim Thorpe), then onto the Lehigh Canal where coal was transferred onto boats. The extraordinary aspect of the Switchback was that it ran solely on gravity. Owners recognized another market…the American tourist. Eventually, thousands of people began plummeting down the mountainside at a speed of 65 miles per hour on the Switchback…the world’s first roller coaster. There are many things to see and do in Carbon County which serves as the Gateway to the Poconos. In the County Seat, Jim Thorpe, you can visit the Old Carbon County Jail, Asa Packer Mansion, Harry Packer Mansion, St. Marks Church, Glen Onoko Falls to name a few. The many recreation areas include Francis E. Walter National Recreation Area, Hickory Run State Park, Lehigh Gorge State Park, Beltzville State Park and Mauch Chunk Lake Park. Some of the seasonal adventures you can take part in are mountain biking, hiking, whitewater rafting down the Lehigh River, swimming, boating, camping, and skiing. So, as you can see, Carbon County has something for everyone!
What Is Cooperative Extension? Penn State Cooperative Extension is an educational network that gives people in Pennsylvania's 67 counties access to Penn State's resources and expertise. It is funded by the U. S. Department of Agriculture as well as state and county governments. Through this county-based partnership, Penn State Educators, faculty and local volunteers work together to share unbiased, research-based information with local residents. The Extension network is one of many parts of Penn State Outreach and Cooperative Extension, which also includes Continuing Education, Distance Education/World Campus and public broadcasting. Mission of Penn State Cooperative Extension The mission of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is to create, analyze, and share knowledge. Further, it seeks to enhance the food and agricultural system, environmental stewardship, and economic and social well-being. Through these goals, Penn State College of Agricultural Science aims to improve the lives of people in Pennsylvania, the nation, and the world. The College fulfills its land-grant mission by strengthening the capacity of students and citizens to address societal issues, solve critical problems, and develop lifelong learning skills through the integration of education, research and service. It is with great pleasure that I introduce our 2005 Annual Report that highlights some of the educational programs and services that Penn State Cooperative Extension of Carbon County provides across the county and the Northeast Region. This was accomplished by using the internet, satellite conferences, meetings, seminars, publications, newspapers and other news media. Our goal is to deliver the information and education to the citizens of Carbon County as needed. Our programs continue to focus on the needs that have been identified in agriculture, horticulture, environmental issues, food safety, 4-H and youth development, family life, nutrition and health, along with many other topics. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Carbon County Commissioners and state and federal legislators for their continued outstanding financial and moral support to our programs. I would also like to thank the many volunteers who serve on the Extension board, various advisory committees and the many 4-H leaders who help with Extension programs. Without these volunteers, many of the programs and activities would not have been as successful. If any of the programs described in this report catch your interest, either as programs you would like us to present or if you would like to work with us as a volunteer to expand the reach of these programs across the county, please feel free to contact us. As we move into 2006, we look forward to the opportunity to serve the residents of Carbon County. Paul A. Shealer A Message From The President of the Carbon County Cooperative Extension Board of Directors It has been a great pleasure to be part of the Penn State and Cooperative Extension family for the past year due to our excellent staff, volunteers and political support. We have had another great year of quality programming in the county as you will read in the following pages. Some of our 4-H Leaders "stepped up to the plate" to help coordinate the agriculture and still exhibit areas of the Carbon County Fair which proved to be very successful. The PROSPER Project is in full swing at both L. B. Morris and Penn Kidder schools located in Jim Thorpe. In the
upcoming year, Paul will be responsible for overseeing the Master
Gardener Program in Carbon County. Thank
you. Safe Kids of Carbon County - Mindy is an active team member of the Safe Kids Chapter of Carbon County. She participated in three child car seat checks and a car seat bounty program in collaboration with the PA State Police, which were held at Kovatch Chevrolet Dealership and Wal*Mart. A total of 112 seats were checked and 79 new seats were given to parents with substandard seats. Educator was trained as a Car Seat Technician during a four day training at Sacred Heart Hospital. This entitles agent to check and correct the seats that are not installed properly. Mindy participated in the Carbon County Bike Rodeo, sponsored by SAFE Kids and Blue Mountain Health Systems at the Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital in Lehighton. Children, accompanied by their parents, completed registration, had photo ID's taken; the children had helmets fitted, bicycles inspected and completed an obstacle course. Helmets were replaced free to the child through a grant written by the Carbon County Safe Kids Chapter. Mindy wrote a grant of $1,500 which was awarded to provide a train the trainer for child care providers in animal safety. The program is called Bite Free-That's Me and will be taught to all staff in attendance. Each center that participates will receive a free puppet theater, 3 puppets, a carrying case, the script, evaluations, certificates and a musical CD. The event is scheduled for November and all centers have been notified.
Better Kid Care - The Better Kid Care Program is a series of 5 satellite training's for childcare providers. Approximately 20-30 childcare providers attended each workshop. Workshop topics include: "See as a Child, Feel as a Child, The Ins and Outs of Good Circle Time, Hot Topics for Center Directors, Easy Ways to Boost Brain Power, and Changing Spaces." Ninety-eight percent of the participants learned new information during each of the trainings. This year we added a series of 7 additional trainings on Building Positive Relationships with Children in collaboration with Carbon County Children's Team. I was pleased to see that our mailing list was expanded to include preschools, nursery schools and home centers and many of these staff attended the BKC trainings. Mindy did a presentation in Monroe County for childcare providers in which 25 participated. Each participant received DPW credit hours and those who qualified received Act 48 hours. Keystone Stars is a quality recognition system that is administered by the PA Department of Public Welfare for registered family providers, child care centers and group homes. Star ratings are based on staff training, personnel policies, and child-staff ratio. Ratings are scaled from one star, which is slightly more involved than meeting licensing requirements to four stars, which can be achieved through NAEYC accreditation. Mindy was trained in Child Observation (3 hour workshop) and Emergent Literacy (12 hour workshop). Two presentations were made in the county on Core Body of Knowledge and Child Observation in which 12 participants completed the training towards their second star. Twenty trainings were completed this year which is 8 more than the previous year. A total of 265 people participated. In addition to the satellite and direct trainings, 61 providers accessed the Learn at Home Videos and the PA Website to earn additional hours and 24 received introductory packets. Agent facilitated Basic Pediatric First Aid training for 13 childcare providers throughout the county who needed to complete the training for DPW Licensing. Mindy assisted the ECELS trainer during the training. All of the participants completed the certification and felt comfortable with their knowledge and felt competent they could utilize their skills in an emergency. Reading
Wizard Program - Dr. Daniel Perkins, Marcia Weber, Georgia
and Mindy presented the Reading Wizard Program at the Spring In-service
to 20 educators from across the state. Each experienced the hands
on training based on the Harry Potter books with magic wands,
and other science experiments. Each received a CD containing all
the necessary forms and presentation materials. Childhood
Obesity - The Northeast Region of Family Consumer Science/Family
Living Educators presented a program on obesity in children at
the Victoria's Inn in Pittston. Dr. Ronald Jay Williams, from
Penn State children's Hospital, was the keynote speaker in which
140 participants attended and were given a day long workshop on
how to deal with childhood obesity. The northeast team won the
State Team Award - Epsilon Sigma Phi and a 3rd place 2005 Florence
Hall Award for the group effort. Healthy Snacks - Of the 24 sessions provided to Family Literacy, Head Start and Right from the Start, four of them were aimed at nutrition and healthy snacks for children. A program was offered to 26 adult participants at the TOPS group dealing with nutrition and exercise. Kathy James assisted in presenting the program, along with Andy Thorresson. Health Fairs - Agent attended the Blue Mountain Health Systems Children's Health Fair and presented the new food pyramid to 270 students and teachers. The program was a fun event and was covered well by the media. Agent also assisted Georgia at the Health Fair at Panther Valley High School by making taco salad and giving samples to over 100 students. New this year was a taskforce created to address the high occurrence of diabetes in the county and provide information to those affected. Mindy became a member of the Diabetes Task Force and assisted in facilitating a workshop for those who have diabetes. The event was held in April and 75 participated and learned about nutrition, exercise and foot care. Community and Economic Well-Being Basic First Aid Training - Agent was requested to do a workshop on home safety and basic first aid to the Family Literacy Program at the Carbon County AVTS and ROI Head Start Programs in Coaldale and Lehighton. Harvest Celebration - Mindy continued the practice of facilitating a Harvest Celebration in October 2004. There were 100 participants, mostly senior members of the community and Panther Valley High School students. The theme was Gifts from the Heart. The students from Panther Valley High School demonstrated baking cookies in a presentation called "Cookies Baked With Love". At the end of their demonstration samples were given to the participants as favors. The other presentations included: "Financial Gifts" by Deb Bryant, the Financial Extension Educator from Wayne County; "Gifts from the Garden" was presented by the Master Gardeners and "Wrap It Up" was a delightful demonstration by Georgia Farrow. The day included lunch for the participants and door prizes at the completion of the program. PROSPER
Project - The National Institute on Drug Abuse awarded $21,111,085
to Penn State University and Iowa State University to collaborate
with local communities on the PROSPER Project. PROSPER stands
for PROmoting School-community-university The team successfully ran 2 classes in Spring 2005 at the Penn Kidder Elementary School and worked with sixth grade students and their families. All the families enjoyed the program and assisted in recruiting other families for another cycle. The ALL STARS program was provided to 170 7th grade students in Spring 2005 at the Jim Thorpe School District. A celebration was attached to an academic award ceremony, attended by many of the parents. Certificates of completion and ALL STAR t-shirts were given to all the participants Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) - Mindy is a member of the Carbon County Citizens Corps and is an active member of the CERT Team. This training provides skills in the event of a natural/man-made disaster or county-wide emergency. The group has recently been created with the help of the Emergency Management Association and the County Commissioners. Educator assisted with the groups first Meet & Greet Event where all team members, local and county EMA staff and PEMA were in attendance. Mindy was also instrumental in acquiring Joel Hersch, from PA Animal Response Team as a guest speaker to the organization to speak on dealing with large and small animals in the event of an emergency. At this point in time there are approximately 275 team members throughout the county and Mindy and Tony Walck, Mayor of Nesquehoning and CERT President, went to the 5 senior centers promoting the program and recruiting new members. As a result, ten new members signed up for the class in October. In September, the group held a hands-on exercise at Bear Memorial Park in collaboration with local fire companies, local emergency management groups and the police. The event was a huge success with 45 participating and 30 volunteers to help with the event. All gained experience in search and rescue, fire extinguishers, cribbing and the smoke trailer from the Franklin Fire Company. Elder Care Training - In April, Mindy assisted Extension Educator, Nancy Grotevant from Pike County who presented an elder care training for staff of personal care homes and nursing homes in the county. Each is required to attend hours for DPW licensing each year and there were 55 in attendance. The training was held at the Mahoning Valley Ambulance Building in Lehighton. Leadership, Personal Skills, and Self Esteem 4-H Camp - Every year, children and adults of virtually all cultures are exploring nature, making friends and encountering their world in a new way through the 4-H camp experiences. Despite geographical and cultural differences, camp remains a place of safety and discovery for children and families. This has been especially true for approximately 75 4-H youth, teen counselors and adults from Carbon, Schuylkill, Lehigh and Northampton Counties that attended Camp Shehaqua for 5 days from June 27-July 1, 2005.
In addition to learning life skills, 4-H camp is a learning experience for the teen counselors. We have made it mandatory that teen counselors receive a minimum of 24 hours of training prior to going to camp. Topics covered in the counselor training sessions include respecting our differences, appropriate counselor/camper behavior, ceremonies, how to handle changing situations and safety precautions, to name a few. A survey conducted the last day of camp produced the following comments from campers:
Comments from counselors were as follows:
4-H Leaders Step Forward - In my "message from the County Extension Director", I thanked our Carbon County 4-H volunteers for the hard work an dedication to the 4-H program. Over the past 2 years, a few key people have stepped down from their responsibilities with the Carbon County Fair seriously jeopardizing the Ag Department. In 2005, we had four leaders step forward and take charge of the Agriculture Department at the Carbon County Lion/Lioness Fair. Dennis and Deanna Cunfer, Carbon County 4-H Livestock Club, took over responsibility of the entire livestock department. Rosa Hawk, Bunny Busters Rabbit & Cavy Club met the many computer changes of the fair entries, recording results and figuring all fair premiums. Kris Simmons, Carbon County 4-H Livestock and Exchange Clubs took charge of the still exhibits including all the set-up, display and tear down. It is understood that these people didn't work alone. There were many others that pitched in to make the fair a success but these four took charge. I am proud to call these energetic people 4-H leaders. Leaders Re-organizational Meeting - The annual 4-H leader's re-organizational meeting was held on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 at the EOC room at the EMA Building in Nesquehoning. This year about 25 4-H leaders attended the meeting. Among the topics discussed were: 2004 Northeast States Leaders Forum which was held in Lancaster and the results of the 2004 4-H Auction. Affirmative action updates, changes in the V.I.P. Fact Sheets and other current issues for the upcoming year were also discussed. 4-H Volunteer Leaders - In 2005, Georgia screened 3 new leaders and one of the new leaders assumed the organizational leader position of the 4-H Mahoning Valley Community Club. Since becoming a leader, she has recruited two more new volunteers to become 4-H leaders and the membership has doubled due to her dedicated recruitment of new 4-H members. Our volunteer screening process involves sending questionnaires to three references and a face-to-face interview, which includes a review of Penn State policy. 4-H Development Committee - The nine member committee consists of eight adults representing various locations of the county and areas of interest, plus one 4-H member. The committee meets bi-monthly and has been active in the Rachel W. Hoffmeier 4-H Scholarship Program. The committee plays an important role in county 4-H policy and procedure. This year the committee assisted with the planning and organizing of the 4-H Auction (3rd Year) which was held on Saturday, September 24, 2005 at the Mahoning Valley Ambulance Building, in Lehighton. We raised over $1,600 to be used for 2006 Member's Materials Fees. 2004
California State Exchange/ Part II - Our Carbon County 4-H
Exchange Club 4-H State Achievement Days - Once again this year, Mindy chaperoned 4-H members attending State Achievement Days at Penn State University July 26th through July 28th. Sarah Frable and Katie Zeoli competed in the rabbit and cavy skill-a-thon and Nicholas Simmons competed in public speaking. The service learning projects were once again offered for all the youths and chaperones that attended the event. Carbon County 4-H Round-up - Each year 4-H culminates the project year with a round-up. As with most counties, the 4-H round-up is held in conjunction with the county fair. This year the Carbon County Lion/Lioness Fair was held August 10-14, 2005 in Palmerton. All extension staff members helped with this years fair. We are pleased to report the following involvement:
Picnic and Recognition Event - The Annual 4-H Picnic was held at Mauch Chunk Lake Park in Jim Thorpe on Monday, August 22, 2005. There were approximately 80 people attending the event which started at 6:00 p.m. with a doggie roast and covered dish supper. Rebecca Cunfer was selected as the outstanding 4-H camp counselor and outstanding 4-H camper was A. J. Sevrin. Approximately 80 awards were given out for achievements in areas of rabbits, cavies, beef, swine, textile sciences and leadership, to name a few. Nicholas Simmons, a 2005 graduate of Lehighton High School was honored as a senior 4-H'er. The evening concluded with the traditional 4-H candlelight ceremony. 4-H reminder bands were given out to all the attendees. Rachel W. Hoffmeier 4-H Scholarship - Marcy Walck of the Carbon County 4-H Riding Rascals Horse and Pony Club and Nicholas Simmons of the Carbon County 4-H Livestock Club and also the 4-H Exchange Club were the 2004 recipients of the Rachel W. Hoffmeier 4-H Scholarship Award. The award was established in honor of Rachel W. Hoffmeier, a former extension home economist and is given to one or two outstanding 4-H youth annually. CSI Camp - Using a curriculum purchased from Burkley California, Georgia and Sherri Abbruzzi, agent from Monroe County, conducted a four day workshop - two days in Carbon County and two days in Monroe County. The "Mr. Bear Mystery" was the theme of the workshop. Investigators of various ages conducted tests for finger prints, foot prints and stains and scents from the crime scene. After the testing was completed, the mystery of who borrowed Mr. Bear was eventually solved. Approximately 40 youth participated. The CSI camp was also conducted at a Jim Thorpe Day Camp held at Memorial Park with about 40 youth participating. Summer 4-H - In order to increase enrollment, Georgia coordinated a recreation program that was held in the Weatherly Area. The program ran on Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Foods and Food Safety, Forestry and Theater Arts were some of the program areas. One of the highlights of the program besides the CSI camp was the Bubble Festival. Approximately 15 youth participated in the program.
The primary objective of the wellness councils is to address childhood obesity through proper nutrition and exercise leading to a healthier lifestyle. Agriculture Competitiveness and Profitability Meat Goat Seminar - The Northeast Regional Meat Goat program is in it's fourth year and continues to address the expanding needs of this, the fastest growing meat industry in the United States. In past programs, much emphasis has been put into care, health, feeding and breeding of meat goats. In 2005 the program had producers looking at genetic improvement. In the first of it's kind in Pennsylvania, extension staff conducted a "carcass evaluation" program. With the help of Herfurth Brothers Meats, 14 meat goats were purchased and 7 were evaluated on the "hoof". Dr. Robert Herr of Lancaster, discussed the different types of body conformations and the different characteristics between the various breeds of goats. The other 7 animals were slaughtered and evaluated "on the rail". Similar discussions were held dealing with body conformation and breed characteristics. In the end, producers had a good idea what a live animal would look like "on the rail". With this knowledge, producers could improve their breeding programs to develop animals that would carry much more meat into the marketplace. Since this program was conducted in February, 7 out of the 35 attendees have purchased new breeding animals to improve their herds. Sprayer
Calibration - Over a 3 year period, pesticide applicator license
holders must attend 6 hours of update training to keep up their
licenses. The training is broken into two areas; core and category
credits. Core credits are the hardest to find being given and
to With the aid of volunteers Richard Fedor and Dean and Robert Miller, who hosted and supplied the necessary equipment, an in depth program on sprayer calibration and weed identification was held. Topics covered were: sprayer nozzles, calibration of boom sprayers, calibration of mist blowers and identification of weeds in field crops and pastures. A total of 53 people received 3 core and 1 category point towards their new license. Multi-County Agronomy Program - A program conducted to address the needs of agronomic crop producers was conducted in late April. Topics presented included:
Forty-two of the 57 people who attended received credits towards their pesticide license recertification. Penn State Christmas Tree Management Short Course - For the past 6 years, Paul Shealer has served on the planning committee and has been a presenter at the Annual Christmas Tree Short Course held at Penn State University in February. It is a good way to teach technical management skills to Christmas tree growers. This year's
presentation by Paul was on "Diagnosing Christmas Tree Problems".
The presentation received a 3.68 out of a possible 4 points on
the evaluation given to attendees. Northeast
Regional Christmas Tree Growers Meeting - The 17th Annual
Northeast Topics presented at the 2005 program included information on two ongoing research projects, "Elongated Hemlock Control" and "Testing and Evaluation of Weed Control Products". Other presentations included: Pest Problems of 2004, Shearing Practices along with Toxicity of Pesticides and Worker Protection. Survey results conducted at the conclusion of the program yielded the following comments from producers:
Overall, the program got an excellent rating by those who responded to the survey. Commercial Horticulture Programs - Linda Wiles, Multi-county Horticulture Educator held four commercial horticulture seminars and workshops in 2004-2005: 2005 NE PA Turf Conference & Trade Show (275), 2005 Northeast Region Landscape Seminar 2: Grasses (Ornamental, Native and Turf), Landscape & Turf IPM (31); 2005 Summer NE Region Grounds, Landscape & Athletic Field Maintenance Workshop & Seminar (47); and Small Farm Expo (SFE) 2005 (1,300). Overall these programs trained 1,653 participants. Greenhouse Basics 101 PowerPoint program was developed and presented and the educator also coordinated the Consumer Horticulture & Rural Living sections for SFE. A needs
assessment and overall program evaluation was conducted and 78
responses indicated that the newsletter was the #1 choice for
information leading by almost 20%, followed by a one-day seminar
and fact sheet. Impact recorded from horticultural programming
in the area indicates that: 78% attended a PSU program within
the past five years and 33% saved money, 53% improved products/services,
and 38% of total respondents saved time as a result of the program;
46% read the PCHN, 29% used the Horticulture website, 40% received
information by phone, mail, &/or in person, 8% visited the
trial grounds - through all these services, 24% NE PA Commercial Horticulture (PCHN) Newsletter - This is a quarterly 8-page newsletter, written and edited by Linda Wiles addressed to commercial businesses and horticulture organizations in the NE Region. Circulation is to 1,040 businesses in the NE Region, plus listing on the Monroe website for download and as a handout at programs. Topics covered, total of 101 (29 completed in early Oct. '05) articles as noted, include: Upcoming Programs; New Plants to Sell and Use (18); About Basics - Soils, Fertilizers and Water (11); Pesticide Applicator Information (17); IPM - Integrated Pest Management (17); Better Culture, Better Plants (13); Business Management & Market Overview (9); Community Issues (10); Health & Safety (6). Horticulture Website - On-going development of this resource allows for 24/7/365 access to information for both commercial and consumer clientele. It is accessible at http://monroe.extension.psu.edu/ under horticulture and gardening. In 2004-2005, there were 73,807 hits to the whole website, with an estimated 48% for horticulture sections. Total hits are up 14% from last year (64,485 for 03-04). There are 542 to 700 unique visitors to the site per month. Gardening Class Series - A new series of gardening classes was developed for consumers with 6 evening 3-hour sessions which were presented to a total of 69 contacts (7-16 per class, some attending multiple classes). Educator developed programs on landscape design, native & herbaceous plants, plant propagation, garden animals; and was assisted by two educators teaching woody plants & pruning, and vegetables & fruits. Master Gardener (MG) Advanced Training - Advanced training was arranged for 27 current MGs to include MG Manual update information, writing garden columns, leadership and planning presentations. PowerPoint programs were developed by the educator with new and expanded information on Extension & the Master Gardener Program, Communications and Botany. Master Gardener (MG) Program Accomplishments - The Carbon County part of the Pocono Master Gardener group, was coordinated by Cindy Kerschner, Carbon Co. Master Gardener Coordinator and Multi-county Horticulture Educator, Linda Wiles. Activity by Carbon County MGs represented several special achievements: Overall, 13 MGs (veteran MGs - Dee Everett, Inge Foster, Leeza Fox, Lisa Gabory, Lisa Hiles, Cindy Kerschner, Ed Knittle, Kathie Krell, Janice Kromer, Liz Morris, Kay Steele, Sue Urban and Priscilla White) provided over 655 hours of volunteer service and made 1,554 contacts. Awards this year for total time in service will include: 1,000 hour award - Cindy Kerschner; 100 hour award - Inge Foster. Some of the Master Gardener accomplishments include:
Special Recognition - Friends of Education Award
The Carbon County Cooperative Extension staff was honored this year by the Carbon County Education Association in recognition of dedicated service to the students and faculty of Carbon County Public Schools. A dinner to honor all recipients of awards was held April 14, 2005 at the Mahoning Valley Ambulance Building. Our staff was thrilled to receive this award and recognition. |
In
May, Mindy set up and provided safety programs with the Safety
Town program at the Head Start Annual Picnic and the Blue Mountain
Health Systems Children's Health Fair. A total of 750 families
and children went through the town with 9 safety stations. 
Partnerships
to Enhance Resilience. This year the team offered the scientifically
tested "Strengthening Families Program" to improve the
health and well being of families in the Jim Thorpe School District.
Our team has increased in members because of the second elementary
school built in Albrightsville. Agent attended trainings at PSU,
recruited and hired 3 more facilitators (making a total of 18
to supervise) local arrangers and child care workers, and recruited
parents. Two parents that went through the first year of PROSPER
supported the program so much, they were trained as facilitators
and taught classes at Penn Kidder. Mindy also acquired additional
funding from Carbon Monroe Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission and
donations from the medical community and the local businesses
to run 4 classes - 2 at each school for the 2005-2006 school year.
Camp
Shehaqua, located in Hickory Run State Park, is offered to 4-H
members of Carbon County. Goals of camp are to increase self-confidence
and self-esteem in youth, teach responsibility to campers by being
responsible for themselves and their belongings, and how to communicate
and get along with others. 4-H'ers participated in the following
workshops: Fishing, Puppets and Puppetry, Gooey Fingers (making
homemade paper) and Measuring Up (making simple woodworking projects).
Other activities included campfires, games, ceremonies, swimming
and the popular ropes course. 
under the leadership of Kris Simmons and Ann Shoenberger hosted
the group from Alameda County which is located near San Francisco.
A welcome picnic was hosted by 4-H club member Adrian Eckley and
her parents Gary and Brenda. While in Pennsylvania, besides checking
out the sites of Carbon County, they also toured Lancaster and
Philadelphia. The Club is currently reorganizing to do another
2 year 4-H exchange project. 
Health
Fairs - Working with the school wellness councils, Georgia
participated in many health fairs throughout the county. Some
of the topics were dip comparisons, taco salad, and veggie stir
fry. As part of "cross county programming" responsibility,
Georgia conducted two health fairs in Luzerne County: one at Hazle
Elementary School and the other at Drums Elementary School. Approximately
1,100 people attended the two events in Luzerne County.
obtain. County extension staff joined forces with Rutgers extension
staff to present this program.
Regional
Christmas Tree Growers Meeting and Trade Show is very popular
with producers. The topics and presentations discussed at the
meeting are actually chosen by the people who attend. Each year
participants are asked to complete a survey as to what they feel
they need in the way of educational programs that would be helpful
to them in running their businesses.
This page last updated Thursday, August 24, 2006
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