WCSHC is inspiring our youth and laying a pathway for the next generation of agriculture stewards and professionals.
The Winston County Self Help Cooperative organized the Youth Group in 2003 to reconnect children to natural resources. The co-op appointed Dorothy Harper (Jean) as youth director. Jean lived and worked on a farm in her youth, allowing her to accept this momentous challenge gracefully.
Jean fondly said, “With encouragement from co-op members, extension service, community supporters, and others, we moved forward on this formidable task. We organized in the Spring of 2003 with seven youth ranging from 5 to 10 years of age. Initiatively, we focused our energies on structuring an organization with a positive community image and a goal of providing career guidance in the natural resources field.”
We chartered a course of action to reconnect our youth with Mother Earth’s natural resources and strengthen families’ relationships by working together as a unit on various projects. This created momentum, which enlisted technical support from Harold Hudson, Moe Yarbrough, Sandra Jackson, and Mike Skipper to organize Arbor Day Activities, forestry projects, kids in the kitchen, and planting the youth garden. Additionally, Rev. Pittman and Mt. Moriah Church Family provided meeting facilities and access to
transportation.
Youth Project
Inception: 2003 (twenty-five members)
Activities: Youth Garden 4-H Arbor Day Girl Scouts Relay for Life and Community Activities: Held the first Youth in Agriculture Conference with 100 participants in November 2006 and received South Central HPI’s Youth Award 2005 and Federation of Southern Cooperatives’ Coop of the Year Award 2006.
Dorothy Jean Harper,
Youth Director