Retlaw 4-H club buzzing with activity

The 2017/2018 club picture of the Retlaw Prairie 4-H Beef Club.

By Chelsey Mills
Retlaw 4-H Club Reporter

It’s been a busy start to a new 4-H year for Retlaw Prairie 4-H Beef Club.

The Retlaw Prairie 4-H Beef Club held their re-organizational meeting Oct. 9, 2017 at the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Hall.

Our club has 27 members this year. We held our election of officers at our first meeting. Our executive is as follows:

President: Sammi Delanoy; Vice President: Jessie Ferguson;Secretary: Cody McClelland; Treasurer: Peter Waeckerlin; Club Reporter: Chelsey Mills; Communications/Social Media: Megan West; Jr. Club Rep: Sienna Howg; Sr. Club Rep: Emma West; Beef Project; Photographer: Marie Wetherelt; Horse Project Photographer: Cheyenne Gamache; Sheep Project Photographer: Vane Ferguson; Pheasant Project Photographer: Jackson Wetherelt.

Members of our club were recognized for achievements from the 2016-2017 club year at the Southern 4-H Regional Celebration on Oct. 14 at the Taber Community Centre. This year’s theme was “4-H always looks GOOD on you!” This year we were fortunate to have Julie and Lowell Taylor as guest speakers. Lowell was the first visually-impaired contestant in Amazing Race’s history.

They spoke of their Amazing Race Canada experience and shared their motto from the show “racing with heart, not sight.” They shared their message of positive thinking and turning obstacles into opportunities. They continue to strive to “live with heart.”

Lowell suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) that has required him to adjust to decreasing sight his entire life. He is now legally blind with no peripheral vision, reduced central vision, and no vision in low light.

Lowell has his sights set on a new vision. His vision for 2020 is the Tokyo Paralympic Games where he will compete in para-cycling. For more information on “Live with Heart” and Lowell’s vision for 2020 please visit https://livewithheart.ca

Our members were asked by the Taber Gun Range to pick up the brass casings left over from their tournament. This was our first community service project for the year and our members collected buckets of brass from six different ranges on Oct. 15, 2017.

Our beef project weighed in 13 market steers and two heifers at their Weigh In, held Nov. 5, 2017 at Vissers Feedlot. Our beef members have been busy feeding and starting to halter break their steers.

Our horse project has been riding at the Taber Agri-Plex and they volunteered to clean up after the Chinook Rodeo on Nov. 19, 2017. They also set up for the Cowboy Christmas Craft Show on Dec. 8, 2017. We held our Annual 4-H Banquet and Awards Night on Dec. 1, 2017 at the Enchant Hall. Members were recognized for their achievements from the 2016-2017 4-H year.

Our most dedicated member award went to Kaitlyn Mills for her hard work throughout all her years of 4-H. Our club also recognized two leaders who retired from 4-H this year, Fran Geremia and Cathy Odland.

We would like to thank them for all their years of hard work and dedication that they showed our club. They will be missed. We would also like to thank all our trophy sponsors. Our banquet is possible because of your generous donation.

Our club made a donation to the Vauxhall Food Bank just in time to help out with the Christmas hampers.

Our 4-H members would like to encourage all community members to continue with donations throughout the year to help out the food bank.

The next few months will be very busy with public speaking, ridings and a calf tour.

If you are interested in judging public speaking, please contact Dorthea Mills at 403-654-4646 or 403-894-8322.

Happy New Year from all the members of the Retlaw Prairie 4-H Beef Club