Happy Birthday Suffolk County 4-H!

As we are celebrating our 75th year, 4-Hers in Suffolk County wanted to kick off a year-long community service project. Operation Military Kids (OMK) is that project. OMK started in 2005 and is the U.S. Army's collaborative effort to support children and youth impacted by deployment. OMK’s goal is to connect military children and youth with local resources in order to achieve a sense of community support and enhance their well-being. In 2009, over 150,000 youth participated in 49 states and the District of Columbia. For more information on Operation Military Kids go to www.operationmilitarykids.org.  Throughout the year, 4-Hers and volunteers throughout the county will be sewing backpacks and stuffing them with fun stuff (dolls, stuffed animals, games, etc), communication tools (stamps, stationary, journals, scrapbooks, disposable cameras) and a letters from kids.  The "Hero Packs" will be distributed in November at our 75th Birthday Bash by our kids. This connection of kids helping kids is the key to the program. Our goal is make a Hero Pack to represent each of the 4-H members in Suffolk County.

We were featured on MyLITV!

Sounds great!  What can I do to help?

Sew backpacks!  For directions to work on your own, email, vjf4@cornell.edu.

Donate supplies to put inside:

• stamps
• stuffed animals
• games (small enough to fit
  in the backpack)
• stationary
• cameras
• photo albums
• scrapbooks
• pens/pencils/markers
• art supplies
• notebooks
• dolls
• books
• hats
• fabric
• cording