On December 10, 2012, the Community Care 4-H Club and NOVA Scoop 4-H Club pulled off a highly successful Santa's Workshop for children of area military families.  The clubs have been working since September, planning and organizing this event.  They held two fund raisers, a NOVA Scoop "Before School Breakfast" and a Bingo fundraisers.  The clubs raised approximately $400.  With these funds, they were able to purchase over 350 gift items to stock the Santa's Workshop.  Gifts included such items as calendars, fleece scarves, nail care kits, key chains, gloves, handbags, picture frames, and so much more.  The club members set up the event, worked as "elves" to assist shoppers, cashiers, and gift wrappers.  The Workshop was part of a larger effort by St. Peter's in the Woods Episcopal Church to provide help to area military families during the holiday season.  While the parent's were "upstairs" receiving items selected for their families, the children went to the Santa's Workshop to shop for their moms, dads, grandparents, and older siblings.  This event surpassed our expectations and both clubs are planning on helping with this event again in 2013.

The Seventh Annual Statewide Teen Weekend will be held February 15-17, 2013 at the W.E. Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Mountain Lake in Wirtz, VA.  The State 4-H Cabinet has worked hard on planning this event and it promises to be the highlight of the season. This event provides an opportunity for teens (age 14 - 19) across the commonwealth to come together for a weekend filled with educational programs and leadership experiences. This year’s workshops include: Healthy Snacks, Wacky Science, Smart Apps, Zumba and Smoothie Wars.  Participants will also take part in a reality store simulation and a service project. 

The cost for the weekend is $90.00 and space is limited to the first 100. If you are interested in attending, please send Lenah Nguyen (lgeer@vt.edu) a note to receive the registration form.  

Please note that the deadline to register is February 1, 2013.

4-H'ers Kate Fisher (Hampton Horsefeathers), Kira Baugh (Krazy for K-9's) and Arielle Ampeh (Krazy for K-9's) helped with many other 4-H'ers to offer about 200 pony rides at Frying Pan Farm Park's Farm Harvest Days.    

Get SET Reston 4-H club finished their regional FIRST LEGO League tournament yesterday early in November.  Their all girls team (division I, under 12) took a Judges Special Recognition Award for teamwork. This is particularly notable since their primary coach was 16 years old (this July) and none of the members had prior experience with Lego League and only one of them met the 9 year old threshold to officially compete (others were 7 and 8; FLL does not hold anyone back from competing). Their teen coach received several positive comments at the tournament for the member's cohesive performance and her dedication to serving this young girl's team. She is really excited about the results, and has enjoyed building the camaraderie with the girls.

Their other teams (Division II, 12 to 14) had a great time, did well, but did not take any awards. The Div II members did an active outreach session to the Southgate Community Center, which serves a title I elementary school community, to recruit additional members for the club’s third team.

On December 1, 2012, the McLean Community 4-H club purchased gifts for 10 children and 2 babies and made several posters for the SHARE “Wishes” program for families in need. The club delivered them to director Bonnie O’Neil. SHARE plans to distribute them on December 8, with Santa doing the honors. While there she gave a tour of their McLean facility and operation, which serves over 200 families in the immediate area. www.shareofmclean.org

The Community Care 4-H Club participated in the Volunteer Fairfax 1K Fun Run this past Saturday, Dec 1, 2012.  It was a chilly morning, but with prompting from club members Reilly Demer and Colleen Jackson, they put on their warmest clothes and headed to Fairfax at 7:30am.  The race started at 9:15am and all runners made it to the finish line.  The registration fee paid to Volunteer Fairfax will go to support the great work that Volunteer Fairfax initiates in our communities.

The Time for Technology Club is a new club in the Fairfax area that is focused on Science and Technology.  The club has recently been working on Scratch. Scratch is a basic programming web page that you can make a cat (or whatever you want) move, talk, and do many other things. The club has also learned how to design video games and how to program an eco-bot.  An Eco-bot is a small robot that is made to clean up litter on the beach that can harm or kill fish and sea life.

Congratulations to our Achievement Night Award Winners

Wallace Covington Citizenship Awards	Tadek Kosmal Allisa Coles
James Swart Leadership Award	Katherine Knight
Ann G. Marlow Friend of 4-H Award	Leslie Painter
I Dare You Award	Alison Flanagan
Senior Honor Award	Katherine Ellig Rachel Stephenson
Clyde Jackson Spirit of 4-H Award	Brenda Shaver
Fairfax County 4-H Alumni Award	Anna-Rose Wolff
Fairfax County 4-H Appreciation Award	Allison Clark
Canine Showmanship Awards	Alina Ampeh Kira Baugh Jamie Soucie
Livestock Showmanship Award	Kaela Pollack Mary Allison Carrico Dana Gotliffe
Sportsmanship Award	Casey Gareis Katie Mutchler
Larry Blair Memorial Award	Kira Baugh
4-H Fair Supporter Award	Lily Nickl Midge Field Esther Wisdom
Club Fair Participation Award	Hoofers& Heifers 4-H Club
Club Portfolio Participation Award	Herndon Horse 4-H Club
Portfolio Ribbon and Medal Winners	Rebecca Honigford Katherine Fisher Michaela Hodges-Fulton Alina Ampeh Regina Honigford Tadek Kosmal Alexa Lynn Rachel Stephenson Katherine Ellig Katherine Knight George Shields Arielle Ampeh Allisa Coles Caitlin Embly Stephanie Sorensen
5 Years Volunteer Service	Debra Schenaker Susan Brogan Christie Nix Jill Brantley Karen Ampeh

The Mt. Vernon 4-H Club kicked off the new 4-H year with a Grandparents Day event in mid-September which is part of their Generations United Grant Program. They painted rainbarrels and put the finishing touches on a raised garden bed, designed by senior volunteer Mr. Ed.  With seed packet donations from the American Horticulture Society, they planted lettuce, spinach, and kale. 

To show their appreciation to the Hollin Hall Senior Center for hosting their meetings and providing space for their gardening project, they donated two items to their annual Fall Festival Silent Auction.  One of the items was a Rain Barrel painted on Grandparents Day.  The other item was a "two hour leaf-raking session", a community service project to help raise funds for the Senior Center.

The Microsoft store has hosted the  club for a workshop on website development.  Members learned how to develop their own website, and they are now working on putting together a site for the club.  In addition, members learned lots of cool ways to edit photos with Photo Shop software.

The club also had two members, Freddy Fuentes and Christian Kane, participate in the National Science Day event.

On October 13th, the Falls Church City 4-H Club volunteered to run a table at the Mutts and Munchkins event..  Members taught event participants how to make dog toys which were sold to raise money for service dog programs.