Iowa 4-H Alumni & Friends

Passionate is a word that describes our July Alum of the Month, Marji Guyler-Alaniz, perfectly.   Marji has dedicated herself to making a difference in the agriculture industry. She has her own business called FarmHer where she focuses on women in agriculture. She photographs women farmers and ranchers and shares the images in an effort to update the image of agriculture. She wants to show women to the world through her beautiful images of them at work. “My goal is to capture the beauty in the everyday and my style is to show who these women are through subtleties. Subtleties that show these are women and portray that they are agriculture. Too often in our world, the beauty of a woman; of an image, is judged by a face. These are beautiful women, doing beautiful work and my goal is to bring an appreciation to what they do,” Guyler-Alaniz said. She also sells FarmHer and RanchHer merchandise both online and at various events and fairs. She speaks about FarmHer and shares ...

Chuck Paulsen is our June Alum of the Month. Paulsen is an Agricultural and Commercial Loan Officer at Bank Iowa in Cedar Falls. He is a trustee for the Iowa 4-H Foundation and is actively involved with the marketing committee. He is an avid Black Hawk County 4-H mentor and volunteer. Paulsen spent fifteen years on the Black Hawk County Fair board and served as Superintendent of livestock judging contests. He was a nine-year member of the Cedar Falls Hustler 4-H Club and served on the Black Hawk County 4-H Council during his youth years. The projects and activities that Paulsen was involved in while in 4-H included sheep, horses, beef, home improvement, gardening, sewing, fashion review, horticulture, and county council. “4-H has shaped most of my adult life. From my choice of Animal Science as a college major to being very actively involved as an adult volunteer. In some way, I can confidently say it somehow affects most all aspects of my life. You don’t re...

Our 4-H alumna of the month, Cheryl (King) Pence, was a 4-H member in Hardin County. She attributes her good public speaking skills to having to get up in front of other kids in her club to do a talk and a demonstration. “Getting up in front of the other members was terrifying at first, but the members made me feel right at ease,” said Pence who believes that her early training made her feel more comfortable with public speaking today. When Cheryl was a 4-Her, there were girls 4-H clubs and boys 4-H clubs. In girls club, she took part in sewing, cooking, and home improvement. One time she even represented her club at the county level as Best Groomed Girl, which is similar to today’s clothing events. She showed beef in the boys clubs which she loved immensely. “I had many first place winners, and in my last year of   4-H, I had the Grand Champion steer. What an honor! ” said Pence. Through these projects she learned the hard work it takes to care for animal...

This summer we will be welcoming 1,100 4-H’ers back to camp where they will have the opportunity to explore, have fun, be creative, and learn! Before the first group of campers arrive, we must raise $15,000, through our new campaign “Beds for Heads,” in order to purchase new bunk beds for Oak Lodge. We are excited to use Oak Lodge this year because that means more campers! Each set of wood, steel reinforced bunks costs $1,000 and includes mattresses, ladders, and safety rails. We're asking camp supporters to help us reach this goal and secure these beds for our campers' heads! In order to reach our goal we have a special way of fundraising. Each week, Iowa State University Collegiate 4-H and Alumni volunteers make calls to donors to raise funds to support the efforts of the Iowa 4-H Foundation. This on-going fundraising effort raises vital dollars to support programs and opportunities for Iowa's 4-H’ers."It is a great way for me to give back. As a 4-H alum from ...

Proud. That is how our April Alum of the Month, Renae Drey, describes herself when talking about 4-H. Renae is a proud first generation 4-H member and volunteer.  She was involved in County 4-H programs, State 4-H Council, State 4-H Conference, National 4-H Conference, and National 4-H Congress. “All of these experiences have given me the opportunities I could have never imagined possible,” Renae said. Renae started 4-H to try new things because she always asked herself, “Why not?” At first, Renae took on many different projects but ended up narrowing down to four of her strongest areas, Citizenship, Leadership, Communications, and Consumer Management. She earned a State 4-H project award for three of her four project areas.  In seventh grade, Renae completed her first citizenship project, by leading her 4-H club in making fleece blankets for a local nonprofit organization. After that first project, Renae’s passion for leading was ignited. During her freshman yea...

Giving the Gift of Grain   If you ask Eastern Iowa farmer Steve Tubbs why he donates through the Gifts of Grain Campaign his response is a simple two words, “Why not?” For him, donating to Iowa 4-H through this simple campaign is a no-brainer, and in his opinion it is the easiest way for farmers to donate funds to the Iowa 4-H program.  “4-H is something I believe in,” said Tubbs. “It’s a family tradition passed down to each generation, so we’ve had a family member in 4-H for the last four generations.” This family tradition is even carried out through his grandkids who are located in the heart of Iowa’s capital city, the most urban location in the state. “4-H is a lot different now than when I was in it, which I would say is a good thing,” he said. For Tubbs, his 4-H story focuses on the memories in club shows and 4-H camp. It is because of these experiences, as Tubbs explains, that he is an Iowa 4-H Foundation donor. “Then, and still today, the 4-H program has been a...

The Iowa 4-H Foundation would like to send a big THANK YOU to everyone involved in making the 2014 Iowa State Fair a success! Thank you  to all fair-goers who stopped by the 4-H Builidng to see this year's State Fair exhibits from all 100 4-H counties. Over 3,900 4-H projects were on display with hundreds of communication projects (working exhibits, educational presentations, ect.) were staged and judged during the 11 days of the fair. All created by the best Iowa 4-H'ers!   Thank you to all the passionate alumni that stopped by the Iowa 4-H Foundation booth to enter our drawing for a T.V., to take a #4Hselfie, or to talk to a member of the Iowa 4-H Foundation team! Thank you to the supporters, donors, and sponsors of the Iowa 4-H program who helped fund this year's Iowa State Fair! Thank you to the volunteers who judged, arranged, organized, and dedicated their time to the Iowa    4-H program for the last 11 days! Thank you to the I...