4H Pledge

Both Miles and his older brother Carter have been members of the Fort Jones 4-H club for many years. Each meeting begins with the 4-H Club pledge:

I pledge ... My Head to clearer thinking, My Heart to greater loyalty, My Hands to larger service and My Health to better living for my club, my community, my country, and my world.

The opportunities for learning, acts of service, and setting the tone for maturing into young men who will make a positive contribution to their community have been endless. It’s more than a club - it’s a family.

One of the most rewarding parts of the year is the opportunity to spend a week at the fair with their friends and showcase the fruits of their hard labor. Every early morning feeding, every pen cleaning, every ounce of sweat is in preparation and anticipation of Fair Week. The friendships fostered, time with community, and a genuine good time.

This year, more than ever, going to the fair and showing animals has been a huge goal for both boys, but especially Miles. Fighting for your life doesn’t leave a lot of room for spending time with friends and things like the Fair.

We didn’t even know if Miles would make it to this year’s fair as he was hospitalized for a couple nights due to a nasty bug and no, it wasn’t Covid. He pulled through and made it to Fair in a big way. He was 2nd in his market class and Carter was 3rd. Carter won the Overall Champion Swine Showman and competed in round robin.

The culmination of the fair is the auction where kids sell their animals. Our generous community always supports the youth in our county in amazing ways - and today was exceptionally humbling. Tears were flowing with every raised hand during his auction time and as each bid kept coming in, I thought of how true the words of the 4-H pledge were. Loyalty, service, health, community.

Thank you to CLT Logging and Jefferson Resource Company for your humbling generosity, paying nearly over four times the price of the average sale for Miles’s pig.

Thank you to Kathy Hayden and the Heffernan family for purchasing Carter’s animal at an extremely generous price.

In keeping with the intention of the 4-H pledge to hands of service both boys, along with many members of our club, will be donating 10% of their sale to the new pediatric oncology center at Asante in Medford.

Here’s to our health, our community, our country and our world.