Winter
2020/2021 Edition
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Dear Butte County 4-H Community,
I hope the New Year finds you in good health. I would like to address some concerns that I have received regarding the support of the Butte County 4-H Program from the UCCE Butte County office. For those of you who have provided feedback, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences; your feedback helps us correct deficiencies and improve the program.
We are currently working hard to address deficiencies. Ryan and I are in close contact regarding the needs of the program and how to meet them. Personnel changes and the pandemic resulted in our office being understaffed for some time; however, Linda Darby has joined our office and will be taking the role of 4-H secretary. As she learns the program, we expect that many of the issues that have arisen will be addressed. We ask for your understanding as learning the 4-H program takes time.
We are working hard to make sure the 4-H program continues to offer growth opportunities for the youth of the County. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with your thoughts and suggestions.
Thank you,
Luis Espino
UCCE Butte County Director
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Hi everyone,
I want to thank everyone for their continued patience and support during a time that has been professionally stressful for our office, and personally stressful for me as my family continues to recover from covid-19.
This Cloverleaf will serve as a combined edition for December and January. In February we will resume sending the Cloverleaf by the 5th of each month with the goal of getting it out as close to the 1st as logistically possible.
I have added new families to the Constant Contact list, but many profiles remain pending and until they are approved we cannot pull emails from the 4hOnline system. I will address this matter further in the "Enrollment" section below, but the "short version" is that many adult volunteers still need to watch their training videos in eXtension.
This edition is long, but PLEASE read it thoroughly as it contains a lot more information than the average Cloverleaf.
Thank you,
Ryan Cleland
Butte County 4-H
Program Representative
(530) 521-9306
rpcleland@ucanr.edu
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Hello,
My name is Linda Darby and I am your new 4-H Butte County Secretary. I was born and raised in Paradise. Myself and both and of my sisters, Susan and Nancy belonged to the Pine Ridge 4-H Club. My mother was an active 4-H Leader during those years. We were very active in the dress review, county fairs, and of course 4-H camp at Bucks Lake. I graduated from PHS, spent time in Benicia, Vacaville, and overseas in England working and raising my three children.
I came back to Paradise to be closer to my family and went to work for Kmart in Paradise in September 1986. I worked their starting as a cashier and working my way up to Office Manager and Human Resources. Like thousands of others, I lost everything during the Camp Fire including my job of 32 years because they never reopened. I relocated to Chico and the Kmart therein till they closed that store.
Sill living in Chico I made the decision to leave retail and started to look for a job with the county. I was hired on at the Right Of Entry Tree Office, which was a temporary job until I was selected for this position. I went home to my husband feeling good about my interview and told him this is the job I wanted. I received the call the next day and here I am happier than I’ve been for a while now. Look forward to meeting the Community Club Leaders, members, volunteers, and their families.
Linda Darby
UCCE Butte 4-H Secretary
530-538-7201
ldarby@buttecounty.net
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As many will have seen, the Greater Sacramento Region has moved out of Shelter-In-Place (SIP), and Butte County is once again in the Purple Tier.
This means that outdoor meetings with less than 10 people can resume. Please note that as covid statistics change, we may be forced back to SIP, or a lower-tier when we eventually move beyond purple.
Below is a simple grid showing what meetings are permitted depending on our tier status. The full document with this grid is linked below.
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A separate message will be sent with more information about Butte County 4-H's Safety measures, so please be on the lookout for that next week. |
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Members who submitted videos for Virtual Presentation Day and received confirmation from the Google Form are enrolled in the event. Ryan will be sending a secondary confirmation to this group, so you can be assured that your registration went through.
Thank you to Tonya Hamblin who began gathering evaluators for this event while Ryan took a three-week leave over November and December.
Evaluators should be aware that there are two Zoom orientations planned that would normally occur on the morning of our in-person event. There are two orientations offered, but you are only asked to attend one. If you cannot attend either, please email Ryan Cleland at rpcleland@ucanr.edu.
The dates for these events are tomorrow Saturday, January 16th at 6:30pm and Tuesday, January 19th at 6:30pm. You will receive an email with Zoom information. The sessions should last less than 30 minutes. Following the first session, all judges will receive an email with their "assignments" and a virtual evaluation form. It is recommended that you plan to evaluate your assigned presentations right after orientation so it's fresh in your mind, but if you cannot we are asking that evaluation be completed by Friday, January 22nd.
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Registration for Virtual Rainbow Craft Field Day is live! We learned a lot while doing Presentation Day, and Lone Pine's team has done a fantastic job planning this event.
Registration is due on January 30th by 11:59pm.
All information regarding this event can be found in three places:
The information on the flyer and the County website are identical, so there isn't a need to visit both unless you're so inclined.
If you are a parent or registered volunteer, please consider signing up to be an evaluator for the event, and not that evaluator orientation is currently planned for Thursday, February 4th, at 6:30pm via Zoom.
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Chico State’s Sheep and Meat Goat Day will take place virtually this year. It was tentatively planned for later in the spring but is now officially on January 23rd. Register now!
This event will continue to count as a County Event, AND once again as a 4-H Event (in Record Books) because there is a competition with a 4-H division. Dr. Celina Phillips, a 4-H parent, and volunteer, is part of the Sheep Unit's leadership and works diligently to put on an amazing event that also meets the criteria for an official 4-H Event!
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A very big thank you is owed to Theresa Schneider, Chico 4-H CCL and Council President, for helping us complete County Record Book Judging while I was out sick.
Linda, our new 4-H Secretary, is completing certificates and will mail awards to participants at their address listed in 4hOnline next week.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out.
All Record Books that have not been picked up are in the 4-H office ready to be picked up. We are staffed every day now from 8am-4:30pm. The door is locked but you can knock or call the office to be let inside
Below are the official results (TPP stands for Total Points Possible):
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PLEASE READ: Enrollment processing is partially complete at this time. Virtually all youth who turned money into their leader and completed their 4hOnline profiles by November 19th now show as "Approved".
When I (Ryan) returned from my leave of absence I began to process enrollment in earnest, and after 30 solid hours told Luis (our County Director) that I needed to give this task to Linda (our new 4-H Secretary) because there were other matters that required my attention. The project is currently on pause as we are waiting for Linda to be granted access to all the systems required to process enrollment, and for her to be trained by a nearby county 4-H Secretary so my attention can focus on our current programming needs.
If your profiles do not show as approved, this is likely because of an error during data entry, your club has not submitted an enrollment summary sheet, or your enrollment summary sheet was turned in after I passed this task on to Linda.
The most important thing for members to note: as long as your enrollment fees and 4hOnline profile were completed by 11/19 there is no reason to believe that you have not met the Fair Participation Agreement requirement.
I focused on enrolling youth versus adults because they are faster and I did not want members to worry about their fair participation status. This said, many adult volunteers still need to complete their online training videos so they can be marked as approved. Linda should begin processing these profiles later next week. Below is helpful information for youth or adults who still need to complete enrollment steps.
Below are helpful documents surrounding enrollment:
- Here is a one page info-graphic that explains the enrollment process in simple terms
- Here is a link to a guide for new and returning YOUTH
- Here is a link to a guide for new and returning VOLUNTEERS
Important things to remember:
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Here is a link to the LiveScan form that new volunteers must take when they are fingerprinted.
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This document must be returned to the 4-H Office.
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Here is an FAQ regarding 4-H's background checks.
- Do not create a new 4hOnline profile if you can't remember your old password. I (Ryan) or someone in the office will give you a temporary password to reset your account. Just contact us.
- eXtension (where volunteers watch their training videos) is a third party website, and you must create a profile for it. If you are returning and cannot remember your username or password, follow the websites prompts for resetting these.
- If returning volunteers do not complete the reenrollment process before the end of the program year, policy requires that you begin the process over again next program year (fingerprinting, the longer batch of videos, etc.)
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The Silver Dollar Fair is accepting entries for Livestock Exhibition! Linked below in the corresponding buttons are their January Bulletin, Important dates and deadlines, and a link to their website with even more information. We are very excited to have the fair back, no matter what form it takes as we move out of the COVID-19 pandemic!
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The 4-H Office is working closely with the Council and the clubs that are in charge of the remaining County Events for the year. Namely, Foods Fiesta, 4-H Fun Night, and Fashion Revue.
Discussions are ongoing about Foods Fiesta and 4-H Fun Night, and CCL's and the County Email List will be notified of any important decisions related to these events.
Fashion Revue has been planned for Saturday, April 10th, since before the pandemic began in March of 2020, and it will be held in person if we are permitted. If not, the date will remain the same, but it will be held in a virtual format.
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The State 4-H Office is planning to hold another Virtual State Field Day. Plans are being finalized, but be sure to check their website periodically in the event updates are posted.
It's never too early to plan for State Field Day!
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The Task Force within the State 4-H Office determined overnight 4-H camps WILL be permitted to take place this summer as long as they are in-line with local Public Health policies. This means that in order for Butte County 4-H to hold our camp at Camp Rockin' U, we will have to follow all Yuba County Public Health Guidance as it is written during camp.
This obviously creates a logistical problem because Bill Anderson and our counselors need to know what type of camp to plan well in advance.
Myself (Ryan), Bill, and Camp Rockin' U are having discussions about what may or may not be possible for us. We are also considering holding a shorter day camp locally. As soon as more solid plans have been made they will be shared with our 4-H community.
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- The January Council Meeting will take place via Zoom at 7:00pm on the 28th of this month.
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