As 4-H’ers, we pride ourselves on our resilience and leadership. These skills have never been more important then they are now. As COVID-19 continues to challenge our society, we want to assure you that 4-H Ontario is diligently following the advice from the Ministry of Health and making decisions to protect our youth, volunteers and stakeholders.
On March 28th, the Ontario Government announced further reductions to the number of individuals allowed in a gathering to no more then five people. In light of this restriction and the increased number of cases of COVID-19 in Ontario; 4-H Ontario is mandating the continued suspension of all in-person 4-H activities and events until the state of emergency in Ontario is lifted and we are confident it is safe for our youth, volunteers and stakeholders to resume 4-H activities and events.
*We will be making regular assessments and updates on the status of further 4-H Ontario events planned throughout the summer and will work to reschedule dates as social-distancing protocols are lifted.
These are challenging and unprecedented times; we understand how dedicated our 4-H’ers are, and we recognize how important club activities are in supporting youth. The 4-H Ontario staff team is working hard to provide more digital solutions so that clubs can run, volunteers may continue to engage youth, and we are able to use our 4-H skills to support each other and our communities. We also look to our 4-H family to share ideas, inspire one-another, and take a leadership role in introducing technology to your clubs. The staff team at 4-H Ontario is here to support anyone with questions on how to host a virtual meeting and will be putting together videos and toolkits as quickly as possible to help equip our club leaders for this task. Now is the time for innovation and invention.
In the past week we have heard and shared wonderful stories of virtual clubs, virtual farm visits, and have had an incredible outpouring of engagement with the Online Explore 4-H project and Cloverbuds at Home Experience resources. We also saw wonderful community solidarity in Stormont where 4-H’ers hung 4-H messages of positivity in their windows. We want to challenge our 4-H community to participate in this incredible act of solidarity and support and share photos with us online!
4-H Ontario will continue to provide regular updates as the situation evolves on social media, our website and through our e-news. We thank our members, volunteers and stakeholders for their patience and understanding, and of course for your support of 4-H.
Find out more about the Online Explore 4-H Project information and the Cloverbud At Home Experience by visiting HERE.
Interested in hosting a virtual meeting? Check out Zoom – affordable plans start at 20$ per month.
Want to plan a fun activity for your Club? Try Kahoot! The free membership supports up to 10 participants.
Source: Holstein Ontario