Junior Fair turkey pick-up will remain on Tuesday, March 31. All exhibitors enrolled in the project should have received a call/email with detailed instructions. Please be sure you have feed and water ready to give them once you get them home.
4-H Youth Development
YQCA Online Certification – Flash Sale!
In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the YQCA Board is announcing a 25% flash sale on the web based certification. Here is how to take advantage of this opportunity.
1. Only offered during the month of April (April 1 – April 30), YQCA will be offering a 25% discount on web-based trainings, making them $9.
- a. Those wishing to take part in the flash sale will need to purchase $9 web-based training coupons from YQCA. Coupon order forms are attached to this message or may be obtained by emailing sales@yqca.org. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO RECEIVE THE DISCOUNTED PRICE.
- b. Once the order form and proof of payment is received, coupons will be issued and returned to the purchaser within 3-5 business days.
- c. Coupons MUST be put towards a web-based training in the month of April.
2. Youth who have already paid for a YQCA instructor-led training (on a date that has not yet passed), may log into their account and cancel their registration.
- a. If payment was received via credit card, their payment will be refunded.
- b. If payment was received via coupon code, that coupon code will be active again. This coupon code does not expire and would be able to be used in future years.
- c. To cancel a registered training
- 1. Go to https://yqca.learngrow.io and login to the account.
- 2. Select the course – you will have an option to “Cancel Registration”. This will cancel the training and refund the payment/re-activate the coupon code.
We recognize members who have typically utilized the instructor-led training option may be unfamiliar with what they receive with their registration fee. See below:
- Each session purchased includes three modules – a knowledge builder, a skills lab, and a quiz.
- The knowledge builder is where content is delivered, the skills lab provides an opportunity to apply the content, and the quiz tests knowledge. To receive a certification, an 80% must be achieved on the 10-question quiz.
- These modules, completed in their entirety, will provide 2-3 hours of an experience for users.
- Features of the online modules include:
- Characters at each age level to guide youth through the course
- Free navigation within the course so youth can spend as much or as little time on a particular topic based upon their personal needs
- Variety of learning opportunities to accommodate various learning styles and modalities
- Audio button on each slide so youth can listen to audio rather than read the on-screen text
- Users may revisit modules anytime during their year of certification to repeat the modules purchased for additional learning opportunities.
Getting Your YQCA Online Certification – Creating and Logging into a YQCA Account
One Simple Way to Help!
Turning on the news used to involve hearing weather reports and what was happening around our communities and the world. However, lately these news stories are more confusing than ever.
You may be asking yourself, “what can I do to help?” One thing that all of us can do is washing our hands regularly with soap and water. According to the CDC, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, washing our hands can help protect us from illness and may reduce respiratory infections.
There are five steps suggested to us from the CDC, to correctly wash our hands. This should be followed every time.
- Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
- Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
- Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
- Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
- Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.
We should be washing our hands more often, even if we don’t think they are dirty. We can’t see the germs that infect us. Washing our hands before and after we eat, after using the restroom, and before and after touching public items will assist in getting rid of these germs. Using hand-sanitizer should be used when there is absolutely no way to get a hold of soap and water. It is encouraged to use soap and water first, since hand-sanitizer kills bacteria but doesn’t wash it away. Using soap and water, washes the germs down the drain!
Another healthy habit to consider is washing items and surfaces in our homes regularly. Door handles, remotes, and light switches should be cleaned regularly as well. Together with these simple steps, we can help our families and our communities become healthier.
We would love to hear your feedback on what song you hum while washing your hands. Email your comments to lee.8379@osu.edu. While you are thinking about what song you can sing while washing your hands, please watch this brief video on hand-washing below.
By: Allison Lee
OSU Extension Clermont County
SNAP-Ed Program Assistant
Citations:
“When and How to Wash Your Hands.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 Oct. 2019, www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html.
OSU Extension Announces Agriculture and Natural Resources Madness: A Tournament of Education
March 23, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Julie Strawser (strawser.35@osu.edu), Teresa Funk (funk.67@osu.edu)
OSU Extension Announces Agriculture and Natural Resources Madness:
A Tournament of Education
Columbus, OHIO – Did your usual conference get canceled? Looking to fill the void of the big basketball tournament? Ohio State University Extension is here to help with a new virtual education program for farmers.
Agriculture and Natural Resources Madness: A Tournament of Education will include 64 educational events broken into daily brackets. Each day, a virtual educational session will be held at 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. The education tournament is free of charge and will likely continue until mid-May.
“This effort is a direct response to providing a variety of useful and timely sessions for farmers across the state during Governor DeWine’s stay-at-home order,” said Jacqueline Wilkins, interim director of OSU Extension. “While our ‘tournament’ is being loosely tied to March Madness, it’s not a competition, and people can join in at any time for as many or as few sessions as they desire.”
The tournament opens on Wednesday, March 25 with the eFields 2019 Results webinar. Learn how the eFields program utilized modern technologies to help Ohio farmers learn new practices and techniques to improve farm efficiency and profitability. Tip-off is at 9 a.m.; and registration is required at go.osu.edu/eFieldsWebinar.
Also in this bracket is a March 25 noon webinar from Sam Custer, interim assistant director of OSU Extension’s Agriculture and Natural Resources program, to discuss how educators are working remotely to continue serving Ohioans during these uncharted waters of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
Tournament “brackets” will change daily. Topics will cover a variety of subjects and be presented in a variety of virtual platforms. When possible, question-and-answer opportunities will be included.
To find complete details on the tournament’s educational opportunities and other event and webinar links, visit go.osu.edu/agmadness.
The Agriculture and Natural Resources online tournament is just one example of how OSU Extension is employing its resources during this challenging time to remain engaged with Ohioans. “The intent is to reach the agricultural community in a time of high stress,” Custer said. “OSU Extension has also updated its Ag Crisis website to include a toolbox of resources related to COVID-19. Those can be reached at go.osu.edu/AgCrisis.”
OSU Extension has implemented a teleworking plan effective immediately, and all OSU Extension offices statewide are closed until further notice. The plan mirrors The Ohio State University’s decision last week to require all employees who can do so to work from home and to maintain only critical services on university property across all campuses.
Clients, stakeholders, and other community members can continue to connect with any OSU Extension staff member via phone or email as usual. To contact your local Extension office, visit extension.osu.edu/lao for office phone numbers and a direct link to each office’s website and staff directory. If you reach voice mail, please leave a message with your name and contact information, and you will be contacted as soon as possible.
OSU Extension is the outreach arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), and works to share knowledge with every county in Ohio. Its four major program areas are family and consumer sciences, 4-H youth development, community development, and agriculture and natural resources.
Backyard Poultry Production Zoom
On March 31st at 6pm Tim McDermott, DVM, OSU Extension Educator, Ag & Natural Resources, will be teaching about Backyard Poultry Production via Zoom. Join Dr. McDermott to learn more about raising backyard poultry, bio security, animal safety and more.
Topic: Backyard Poultry Production (flyer)
Time: Mar 31, 2020 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meal Pickup Sites in our Community
We know that with the closing of schools, it can be tough to make sure our kids have enough to eat every day. We have put together a small list of options to help your family during these times. Please know that this list may not include all the options available.
Below are the following meal pick ups by School District. As these details can change, always check the School District website for the most up to date information.
Batavia Local Schools
- Grab and Go pickup breakfast and lunch service is available from 9:30 am to 11:00 am at the following locations:
- Batavia Elementary School– 3 Bulldog Place, Batavia Ohio 45103
- Batavia Middle School– 800 Bauer Avenue Batavia, Ohio 45103
- If you lack transportation or have other significant issues that are preventing you from picking up food at these locations, please email your building principal for assistance.
Bethel-Tate Local Schools
- Beginning March 18th, grab and go meal bags will be distributed two times per week on Monday’s and Wednesdays. Each day there will be two distribution times, 10:30 am – 11:30 am and 5:30 pm- 6:30pm.
- Pickup location is the Middle School Red Building next to the tennis courts.
- 649 W. Plane Street Bethel, Ohio 45106
- Please note during Spring Break, March 23-27, this service won’t be available. It will resume Monday March 30th.
Clermont Northeastern Schools
- Grab and Go style breakfast and lunch for Monday March 16th, Tuesday 17th, and Friday March 20th. Tuesday’s delivery will include enough food for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. CNE Food Service will be accepting phone calls for any students that need direct delivery at 513-623-8484 or 513-625-1544. CNE will communicate food delivery plans for the week of March 30th by 5 pm on Sunday March 29th.
- Look for the big yellow bus
- Food drop off will be from 9:30 am – 11:00 am at the following locations:
- CNE Middle School
- Zebulon Park
- Wayne Township Police Department in Newtonsville – Cross, Main Street, Wright
- Owensville Commons – Owensville
- Stonelick Park (right after Dam) – 727 and surrounding
- Marathon United Methodist Church – 286, Weaver, Moore-Marathon, Bucktown
- Jackson Township Building- Bucktown, Aber, Formin, and Moore-Marathon
- Libbey’s Landscaping – Weaver, Quitter, Pennington, Meek Road
- Old IGA Parking Lot – All of Owensville
- Stonelick Township Building – Owensville
- The Old Tollgate – Wild Rose, Milford
- New Beginnings Church – Wilshire, Sutton, Belfast, Goshen
- Harvest Church on 132 – 131, 132, Cedarville, Stonelick William Corner, Bass
- Teen Challenge – Dry, Run Stonelick Williams Corner
Felicity-Franklin Local School District
- Felicity- Franklin Schools have partnered with the United Methodist Church and the Church of Christ to provide any child 1-18 years of age with lunch and breakfast.
- Beginning March 17th on Tuesdays and Thursday’s pickup is located outside the United Methodist Church 421 West Walnut Lane Felicity, Ohio 45120 from 2:00pm – 3:00pm
- Beginning March 18th on Wednesday’s pickup will be available at South Park from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Goshen Local Schools
- See School website for information
Milford Exempted Village Schools
- We will provide meals to students who need them through April 3. Families will pick up meals at Mulberry Elementary.
- To order a meal, families are asked to call by 10 a.m. the day they plan to pick it up. Families will be assigned a pickup time. Pick up times will be staggered.
- Families can indicate when they call if they intend to order meals for the week, or just for that day. To order a meal, or to ask a question, call (513)576-2290, or (513)576-4160, or (513)576-2291, or (513)576-2292. Leave a message with your first and last name if your call is not answered and indicate if there are any food allergies in the household.
- Limited delivery is available – when you call to order please indicate if you need delivery.
New Richmond Exempted Village Schools
- Beginning Monday, March 16, members of our food service department will prepare both breakfast and lunch packets for students. These packets will be delivered to multiple designated locations by members of our transportation department around 11:30 a.m. five-days a week during this extended break.
The locations are:
Richmond Estates
2755 ST RT 132
New Richmond, Ohio 45157Forest Creek
118 Shady lane
Amelia, Ohio 45102Hi View Estates
2730 ST RT 222
Bethel, Ohio 45106Lakeside Estates
1560 Bethel-New Richmond Rd.
New Richmond, Ohio 45157
New Richmond Christian Childcare
1126 Bethel-New Richmond Rd.
New Richmond, Ohio 45157
Moscow Community Center
30 Wells St
Moscow, Ohio 45153
New Richmond
Bandstand Canopy
116 Susanna Way
New Richmond, Ohio 45157
New Richmond Plum Street Park (George McMurchy Park)
Located between Front Street and Willow Street
New Richmond, Ohio 45157
Chestnut Lane / Sugar Tree Rd
Mobile Home Park
Central Office
212 Market Street
New Richmond, Ohio 45157
Connection Point Church
215 Columbia Street
New Richmond, Ohio 45157
Birney Lane and Jacob Light Court, both near IGA
West Clermont School District
- Meal pick up will be Tuesday March 17 and Thursday March 19.
- Amelia Elementary – 5 East Main Street Amelia, Ohio 45102 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
- Clough Pike Elementary – 609 Brantner Lane Cincinnati, Ohio 45244 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
- West Clermont District Office – 4350 Aicholtz Road Cincinnati, Ohio 45245 12:00 pm – 2:00 om
- View traffic flow of each site on the West Clermont District site, please follow signage and staff members for directions on where you will pick up meals.
Williamsburg Local Schools
- Meal pick up will be March 16- March 20 and March 30- April 3.
- NO pickup March 23- March 27
- Meals will be available for pick up for all students and families from the Williamsburg Middle School/High School Auditorium.
- Lunch and Breakfast for the next school day, families will be packaged together
- Families will be assigned pick up times between 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
- Please contact Nutrition Services at one of the following numbers to order meals for any or all days
- Kathy King – 513-576-2290
- Peggy Parsons- 513-576-2291
- Gerry Levy – 513-576-2292
- During Spring Break week the Clermont YMCA will be offering a free breakfast 8:30 am – 9:30 am and lunch from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Online QA Option
New QA Exceptions for 2020 ONLY:
- YQCA can be taken online
- The age range has been extended to include youth 8-18
- $12 for each youth
- INSTRUCTIONS for youth to utilize online YQCA
- YQCA is the only online option approved by the Ohio Department of Agriculture
- After you complete the course, send your Certificate Number to neal.331@osu.edu
All QA Training sessions originally scheduled for April have been cancelled. As of now, we still plan to offer in-person QA Training after the COVID-19 social distancing restrictions have been lifted. Future make-up dates/locations are still TBD.
Clermont County 4-H Tech ChangeMaker, Luke Uhlenbrock is assisting teachers with their virtual classrooms. He spent the morning trouble shooting and creating a help sheet to give students access to online resources to complete their assignments during the COVID-19 shut down. He created step-by-step instructions detailing how to download the proper tools to open web-based assignments. #InspireKidsToDo #TrueLeaders
Ohio 4-H Conference Cancelled
From Dr. Kirk Bloir, State 4-H Leader:
After consultation with the college and university leadership, the Ohio 4-H Conference is being cancelled for this Saturday, March 14. Recognizing that our nearly 1,300 attendees are located around the state, we are following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, Ohio Department of Health, and the university in being aggressively proactive to prevent the potential spread of communicable respiratory illness.
We plan to hold all currently paid registrations and apply those to the 2021 conference. Refunds will be considered in hardship situations on a case-by-case basis.
I appreciate the many hours of preparation that have gone into planning this year’s conference. While we are disappointed we will not be able to gather at the convention center as planned, we are confident this is the prudent course of action. Please know that we are working on alternate plans for recognizing the many volunteers and teens who were to be honored at this year’s conference and will share more information later.
Thank you for all you do to make 4-H a priority for our youth.
Now’s the Time to Enroll in Clermont County 4-H!
4-H enrollment season is here! Registration for the Clermont County 4-H program is due by March 15.
4-H gives youth a chance to pursue their own interests – from photography to computers to cake decorating, from building rockets to raising sheep. 4-Hers go places – to camp, to fairs, to state and national conferences and competitions. They learn to be leaders and active citizens.
Clermont County has nearly forty 4-H clubs, specializing in home economics, leadership, shooting sports and animal science. Through individual and group projects, 4-H instills integrity, service, leadership and personal growth in youth. To view a list of projects and resources, please visit projectcentral.ohio4h.org.
To be a 4-H member, a child must be age 8 and in the third grade. For younger children (age 5 and in Kindergarten), Clermont County offers a program called 4-H Cloverbuds. Cloverbuds participate in non-competitive activities exploring a variety of fun, hands on interest areas. Accommodations can be made for youth with disabilities through our Winning 4-H Plan.
How to Enroll – New and Returning Members (New Family instruction begins on page 8). Click here for a coordinating Video.