Lincoln County School District has the highest population of homeless students in the state of Oregon and the Homeless Education Literacy Program (HELP) works diligently to serve those students with a wide variety of needs. Recently, they launched a quarter drive to provide homeless families with quarters to do laundry at a laundromat. It costs up to $4 to wash and dry a load of clothes and can be cost prohibitive for families in need. HELP enlisted the Toledo Elementary 4-H Cloverbuds to gather and count quarters.

In the month of November, the Toledo Elementary 4-H Cloverbuds asked their neighbors, friends, families, churches, and teachers for donations of quarters. On Thursday, November

21st after school, they gathered to count and bag quarters. The children were amazed at the volume of quarters and astounded to discover that they had raised $418. After some calculating, they concluded that was equal to roughly 104 loads of laundry. This experience is a good reminder that small gestures, like giving a few quarters, can make a big impact.

The quarters have been donated to the HELP Center and will be distributed to families in need. The 4-H Youth Development Program focuses on providing youth of all ages with the life skills they need to succeed in today’s – and tomorrow’s – world. Projects and activities are vehicles that help young people learn and grow through an intentional process that builds competence, confidence, connection, compassion and character.

Community Service and Service Learning are core values 4-H teaches as part of the Youth Development mission of the program. Research has shown that by participating in 4-H, young people prepare themselves for economic and social success in adulthood. The Cloverbud program specifically focuses on youth ages 5-8 who participate in a wide array of short-term learning experiences to explore and discover different topics of interest.

For more information about Lincoln County 4-H, please contact Heather Tower, 4-H Program Assistant at 541-648-6818 or heather.tower@oregonstate.edu

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