The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON—An endowment to pay for all annual 4-H memberships has just been announced by WSU Dayton Extension Agent Paul Carter.

In 2017 the state instituted an annual $25 membership fee for attendance in 4-H, a move Carter says was discriminatory to families having financial difficulties. So he set about to see what could be done to help them

Carter said he recently met with the Blue Mountain Community Foundation to start the process of creating an endowment. The initial need is for $10,000 to establish the endowment, with a target goal of reaching $50,000, he said.

“$50,000 is enough to generate membership costs,” said Carter.

This year there were 92 youth enrolled in 4-H, and the cost to cover memberships was around $2,000, Carter said.

Carter said the endowment will be primarily used for paying membership enrollment fees for 4-H, but, secondarily, for other member events and activities, as well as scholarships, when additional revenue funds are available.

Disbursements will be reviewed and managed by the local County Extension Director or Agent, the County Extension Office Manager, the County 4-H Coordinator and County Leader Council President or Treasurer, and will take place in February of each year, with the first distribution in 2020, he said.

Carter said he sees this community building opportunity as a long-term fix. “We are trying to help less fortunate people in our community,” he said.

Checks can be made out to the Blue Mountain Community Foundation, “4-H enrollment fees” in the subject line, said Carter. Checks can be dropped off at the Columbia County Extension office at 137 E. Main St. in Dayton, or they can also be mailed directly to the Blue Mountain Community Foundation, at P.O. Box 603, Walla Walla, WA 99362.