North Dakota 4-H Clubs Serve Through Volunteering and Community Work

In partnership with: North Dakota Department of Agriculture

All 4-H students pledge to use their hearts to greater loyalty and their hands to larger service. In North Dakota, the Hay Creek Kids and the Ramsey Riders 4-H clubs are two of many lending their hearts and hands to service in unique ways.

Growing for Good

Jeff Ellingson wanted his kids to join 4-H, so he started a new club in 2010.

“We started our club the same year the North Dakota Department of Agriculture started the Hunger Free North Dakota Garden Project,” Ellingson says.

He thought supporting that program would be the perfect fit for Hay Creek Kids 4-H, most of whom had never grown a garden. The students learn to plant, grow and harvest produce in a plot on Ellingson’s property in Bismarck, focusing on potatoes and pumpkins. Donating the produce to the community is the goal.

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“Every year that we donate, the food pantry directors tell the kids how many people in the community are served and what their donation does for the community,” Ellingson says. “I had no idea there is so much need in the community. The kids are learning about the need years before I ever knew it existed.”

To date, the club has raised and donated nearly 39,000 pounds of potatoes. They also raise pumpkins, which they offer for freewill donations.

“When people come to our pumpkin stand, a lot of them tell stories about when they were in 4-H, so the kids get to engage with the community,” Ellingson says.

Funds from the pumpkin sales are used to purchase Christmas gifts for less fortunate children. “We all go shopping as a group and try to emphasize that if it wasn’t for what they are doing, there would be kids who wouldn’t have any presents,” says Ellingson, who received the North Dakota 4-H Volunteer of the Year Award in 2015.

“We’re not a typical 4-H Club,” Ellingson says. “We don’t have a bunch of people earning ribbons. Through our way of teaching kids about growing something to give back to the community, my hope is they’ve learned more by asking themselves what their hard work is doing for the community and how it is helping others. I believe they are learning more about life answering that question.”

Big Ideas, Caring Kids

A member of the North Dakota 4-H Hall of Fame, Alvina Ebensteiner has led the Ramsey Riders 4-H Club for 35 years.

“The kids in our club are interested in horses,” she says of the club’s name, “but we do all kinds of different projects, so they get a well-rounded experience.”

This includes making tie blankets and donating them as well as donating caps and mittens for children in area schools, plus raising money for an all-seasons arena at the Devils Lake fairgrounds. A 4-H family faced serious medical issues, and the club raised more than $5,000 through a silent auction.

“Our kids don’t need to be prompted by adults to do these things,” Ebensteiner says. “They see needs at school and in the community, and they are the first to suggest ways they can help. Because it’s their idea, they get the project off the ground and make it successful.”

The club’s volunteer work also includes the Lake Region Stampede, a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sanctioned event.

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“That stampede couldn’t be held in Devils Lake without volunteers from the community, and our kids are a big part of that volunteering force,” Ebensteiner says. “They run the concession stand, park cars and take tickets at the gate.”

Ramsey Riders are among the thousands of 4-H members pledging their hearts and hands in service to better their communities and their world.

“Our club is a very caring group of kids,” Ebensteiner says.