4-H volunteers giving time, building futures

Hundreds of volunteers donate time valued in the millions of dollars each year to support University of Idaho Extension 4-H Youth Development, though many say they gain as much from the experience as the youth they serve.

Enrollment is now open for new 4-H volunteers. As of Oct. 19, 729 adults had signed up to volunteer, and program organizers say more are needed.

Mandy Strey, a 4-H area Extension educator who oversees the program’s volunteers, estimates 4-H benefited from 72,000 volunteer hours in fiscal year 2025 valued at roughly $7.17 million. The estimate is based on the Independent Sector's valuation of volunteer time at $32.48 per hour.

In Idaho, 4-H provides programming to more than 75,000 youth per year, empowering them to build life skills, leadership and civic engagement through experiential learning and mentorship.

“Volunteers are the backbone of our organization, and they are crucial to providing leadership and mentoring for our youth,” Strey said.

Anyone interested in becoming a 4-H volunteer may apply online and must pass a background check, complete online training and participate in an informal, in-person interview with 4-H officials from their local county office. Volunteers with a diversity of backgrounds and skills are needed as the program covers a wide range of activities, such as animals, cake decorating, shooting sports, sewing, baking, pottery and STEM.

4-H members look to their volunteers as mentors.

“They have another caring adult who is in their corner and is consistent,” Strey said. “We have really great and dedicated volunteers who are doing this, because they care about 4-H, they care about the kids and they get great satisfaction out of giving back to the community and supporting young people.”

Pat Miller, Franklin County

Pat Miller doesn’t mind when children let the flour fly and the batter splatter while she’s teaching a 4-H baking class in her kitchen.

Miller, a Preston woman who has volunteered for 60 years with UI Extension 4-H Youth Development, figures the kids are engaged, learning and having fun when they’re laughing and making a mess.

She recalls a boy who took one of her baking classes and initially spoke only in one-word answers to questions — until he and another child began throwing handfuls of flour at one another and faced no repercussions. The boy’s father later approached Miller and told her, “I can’t tell you how much he enjoyed that class. We eat pie all the time now!”

4-H officials can always rely on Miller to lead 4-H groups in baking, Dutch oven cooking and photography.

“I honestly love 4-H. It is so good for our youth, and it teaches so many skills — skills we may not even think about,” Miller said.

Miller first started volunteering with 4-H in 1966. Her father, who worked as an Extension educator in Butte County, couldn’t find a leader for a 4-H cooking club, so he asked Miller, who was 11 at the time, and her older sister, Luan, to fill in, under their mother’s supervision. Miller led a cooking club every year from then on, aside from the years when she attended U of I, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1972 and a master’s in 1974, both in elementary and special education.

“This is the least I can do to pay back all of the many blessings I received from 4-H,” Miller said. "I’ve learned and used more things from 4-H than I’ve given back.”

Miller credits 4-H with improving her baking, sewing, leadership and public speaking skills. Her six children all participated in 4-H, and her 27 grandchildren have also been active in the program. She gives her grandchildren a camera to use in 4-H photography when they turn 9. She’s certain her eight great-grandchildren will continue the family tradition.

Chris Goetz, Clearwater County

Chris Goetz anticipated his oldest daughter, Ava, would improve her equine skills through her participation in 4-H horse activities.

What surprised Goetz, however, was how 4-H helped her grow in many other crucial areas, such as leadership, public speaking, responsibility and work ethic.

“Yes, her horse skills got better, but her social and people skills also got better,” Goetz said. “I didn’t know that going in, but you see 4-H makes a difference in their life skills in general.”

Goetz, 52, who recently retired from a 28-year career with the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office, where he served as sheriff for the past 18 years, has devoted himself to helping youth meet their potential. For the past nine years, he’s served his community’s youth as a 4-H volunteer. On Sept. 18, during his county’s annual 4-H livestock auction, Goetz was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Vandal Proud Distinguished Volunteer Service Award for UI Extension’s northern district.

Serving as a 4-H volunteer has been rewarding to Goetz, and he encourages other adults to donate their time and talents to the organization.

“That’s one of the struggles for 4-H is finding new volunteers,” Goetz said. “4-H doesn’t work without the volunteers.”

Goetz is the current president of the Clearwater 4-H Leaders Council, which helps organize the county’s 4-H programs and chooses which youth receive special awards. The committee also raises funds for scholarships to support youth participation in 4-H camps and events by selling a pig at the annual livestock sale. The animal is donated, and the committee supplies the feed to a 4-H youth who raises it as a second animal project.

Goetz also serves on his county’s livestock sale committee and has been a member of the Extension Director’s Advisory Committee for the past three years.

Ava is a sophomore studying agricultural science, communications and leadership in U of I’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. His youngest daughter, Ella, is a freshman studying forestry within U of I’s College of Natural Resources.

Samantha Tate, Payette County

Samantha Tate homeschools her children and enrolled them in 4-H to give them an opportunity to socialize with peers and be active in their community.

4-H has delivered more than Tate ever dreamed possible, also helping her children gain self-confidence, become more responsible, improve their public speaking skills and evolve as leaders.

To give back to the organization, Tate has been a steady 4-H volunteer, helping other youth in the community experience the same benefits.

“It’s been fun watching the kids grow up with 4-H,” Tate said. “4-H provides so many valuable skills.”

Her oldest child, Porter, 15, is now learning how to help organize a large event as a member of the 4-H Know Your Government Steering Committee, which plans an annual conference in Boise, where 4-H youth learn hands-on lessons in civics by playing the roles of lawmakers, judges and legislative reporters.

Porter first joined 4-H when he was 8. That year he showed his first animal project — a Nigerian dwarf dairy goat. He still shows that goat every year.

His younger siblings, Samuel, 13, and Roland, 11, started as Cloverbuds, which is an introductory 4-H program for younger children, ages 5 to 7.

Tate helped run her children’s Cloverbud club. When they graduated from Cloverbuds, she and a co-leader, Jordan Cooke, started their own 4-H club, which emphasizes animal projects.

Tate and Cooke host annual agricultural tours, visiting feed lots and other facilities involved in commercial food production.

Her club also visits a local nursing home twice per year, where youth present their 4-H projects to residents.

“We usually spend an hour and a half or two hours, and we encourage the kids to hang out with the residents and ask if they had experiences with 4-H,” Tate said. “The residents really seem to enjoy it.”

Tate also volunteers her time three times per year helping to chaperone 4-H state conferences, she serves as a member of the Payette County 4-H Leaders Association, and she oversees her county’s annual 4-H fundraiser.