Anabelle Dos Santos is a member of 4-H Woodlands Hare and Hound and serves as the club’s reporter
When I first joined the Woodlands Hare and Hound 4-H club in January of 2020, I expected bustling fairs, big training sessions and large public speaking events.
The year started off well with a club sleepover and some great training sessions and meetings. But then March came and the pandemic hit.
At first, I wondered if we would be able to do 4-H at all. Thanks to the creativity our leaders, the 2020 4-H year was one I will never forget!
We started to have virtual meetings and our leaders encouraged us to participate in virtual fairs.
Many of our club members took advantage of these virtual opportunities, and to say our club did okay would be an understatement – we thrived!
Many of our club members won awards at the Aldergrove Fair, Chilliwack Fair, the PNE and the Field To Fork Challenge.
Our members still continued to train their dogs at home and they found some very creative ways to improvise – including making their dogs jump over stacks of toilet paper rolls and creating videos to share at our meetings.
READ MORE: Field to Fork challenge brings together youth and BC grown foods
We really appreciated the creativity of our leaders in finding ways to still connect with our club.
We also really appreciated all everyone who organized virtual fairs and worked so hard so that 4-H members could still participate in online activities.
Our club’s key leader, Ginette, had this to say about how our club did during the pandemic;
“2020 offered many challenges to all of us! Woodlands 4-H Club members rose to the challenge and embraced the virtual 4-H activities at all levels and at fairs. They also participated enthusiastically when we were able to meet in small groups outdoors during the summer.”
So although we have no idea what 2021 will bring, we know now that we can be creative and resilient, and even amidst a global pandemic we can continue to embrace the 4-H motto, “learn to do by doing.”
Anabelle Dos Santos, Woodlands Hare and Hound
