Day of Caring is a 4-H Celebration

The United Way Day of Caring is always a great day in Robeson County to help people and highlight the incredible work that the 18 agencies do in this county. Robeson County 4-H is one of those agencies, and we love the Day of Caring for a variety of reasons.
The first reason is because we are generally in a position to show how our youth can help others. This year the members of the "Dirty Rascals"Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club traveled to Southeastern Hospice House to do a little landscaping. The youth, parents, and volunteers planted hostas, and flowers to brighten up the garden area. They had a lot of fun and hope to make this an annual project (no flower pun intended). Also in the works is a picnic table that has been ordered and some volunteers will put together for them (we will keep you up to date on that project).
The second reason we enjoy the day of caring is that we have the opportunity to set up a table at Jerry Johnson Chevrolet and market our program along with the other 17 United Way Agencies. It is amazing the services that are offered to the people of Robeson County and how United Way touches and enhances peoples lives through these agencies.
The third reason we enjoy the Day of Caring is because we always have the opportunity to get messy. This year we worked with almost 30 preschools (and some of the creative agency folks) to create 100 grow cards. Grow cards are made from recycled paper (newspaper, office paper, construction paper, etc,) that has been blended together with water. The recycled paper pulp is then placed into cookie cutters to shape them, and the water is pressed out over window screens. We then place flower seeds in the wet paper pulp and allow it to dry when it is done it looks like this.
That leads us to our fourth reason to love the Day of Caring this year. We made 100 grow cards that day which we will give as gifts to 100 supporters of 4-H. There is a significance to the 100 grow cards. This year is North Carolina 4-H's Centennial. That's right our organization is 100 years old, so to celebrate we made 100 cards which will be sent to 100 people who have helped us grow over the years. They will be able to plant the cards, and the seeds will sprout while the paper will acted as a mulch and eventually dissolve into the soil. It is a win win situation for everyone just like this project, the Day of Caring, and United Way!