Every year, the Smoky Mountain Home School 4-H Club takes an active approach with getting involved in our community. This past year has presented its own unique problems with COVID and the restrictions to club events and activities that have come along with those restrictions. But, in spite of this, we want Union County to know that we are still here.

My name is Meradeth Whitley and I am the reporter for my 4-H club here in Union County. Each year our club, under the guidance of the UT Extension Union County office, is involved in many outreaches that help better our communities and our county.

Our club president, Kaleb Hanna, has spent many hours volunteering as the Healthy Living Ambassador and is now working on a new project for Union County through involvement in the Agri-science field. Two of our newest members, Elijah and Samuel Helton, have gotten involved in helping the community through beautifying Big Ridge State Park. Samuel says that 4-H “has made a positive impact on him with learning new things to do and having fun building bird boxes and planting flowers” at the state park. Elijah says that he “has made new friends and is getting more comfortable with speaking” to an audience.

Jessica Garcia, who is in her second year with the club, has spent time working with our Union County seniors during a Halloween event and recently volunteered putting kits together for our elementary school kids to take home. One of our youngest members, Silas Whitley, is excited to get involved with clean-up day in Union County on March 20th.

We have all seen many changes in our lives over the past year. Even though we have had to modify and implement modifications for everyone’s safety, our club is still here and we are still working to reach our goal which is to use the tools we have to better our communities. If you are interested in getting involved with 4-H or learning more about it, please contact the UT Extension 4-H office at (865) 992-8038.