4-H/FFA Family Newsletter

Dubuque County Extension 14858 West Ridge Lane, Suite 2 Dubuque, Iowa 52003-8466 Phone 563-583-6496; Fax 563-583-4844 www.extension.iastate.edu/dubuque/

4-H/FFA FAMILY NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2010/JANUARY 2011 January

Hello! Well this year was quite the year. Many changes in the office have occurred. I sure hope that in the coming year we will have just as much fun and success as we had in the past. Our office will be closed from December 20, 2010 until January 4, 2011, if you need to contact me please try my cell phone 563-599-9336. As we look back on the successful year we have had, we realize that it could not have been done without the many volunteers, parents, leaders, advisors, 4-H and FFA members. We truly thank each of you who volunteer your time and efforts, I ask for your continued support in 2011. We would also like to take the time to wish each of you the best of the holiday season. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact the Dubuque County Extension office. One major change in the office is Dee Gaul has left the County Youth Supervisor job. We miss her so much in the office, what knowledge and skills she has with 4H. Thanks Dee for everything you have given to 4H you are a breath of sunshine. We miss you! Sincerely,

Michelle Switzer LuAnn Krapfl County Youth Coordinator 4-H Office Assistant

Calendar Of Events December 14th - Youth Leader Christmas Party 7:30 December 19- Beef Weigh In Dyersville 7:00 a.m. – noon December 20- January 4 - Extension office closed January 14- Blue Ribbon Banquet January 10- FSQA Training 7-9 p.m. Extension Office February 1 - Scholarships due to State 4-H office February 17– FSQA Training 7-9 p.m. Extension Office March 3- New Member Night 7:00 Extension Office March 5- Project day 2 4H/FFA Family Newsletter March 19 – Swine Weigh In March 22- FSQA Training 7-9 p.m. Extension Office must pre- registration April 9- Communication Judging April 23 – Sheep Weigh In May 7 - FSQA Training 9-11a.m. Extension Office must pre-registration May 18- Pre fair Leader meeting 7:00 at the Extension office June 20- Junior Day Camp June 28-30- Iowa Youth Conference “Aim for Adventure” July 13- Clothing Fashion review Judging 5:30 at the Extension Office July 19- Youth leaders Set Up 4-H Booth Dividers 6-9:00 July 20 & 21- Set Up 4-H Club Booths 5-9:00 July 23- 4-H Building Judging July 26-31- Dubuque County fair “It’s a Family A fair” August 1- Building Projects released 5-6:00. 6:00 tear down dividers we need adults. August 8- State Fair projects due at the Extension Office no later than 4:00 August 9- State Fair projects delivered to State Fair August 11-21- State Fair “Nothing Compares” August 22- Pick up State Fair projects at the extension Office after 9:00am

Extra A special Newline Food Safety and Qualityinsert Assurance for 4-H (FSQA) Training/Testing Dates Set Iowa 4-H’ers and FFA members produce over 13 million pounds of meat each year, all of which goes into the Dates of Training must pre register American food supply. And that doesn’t include all the milk and eggs produced by these youth! Because 4- H’ers and FFA members are producing food, not just January 10 7-9 p.m. showing animals, they should be expected to follow the February 17 7-9 p.m. same rules and regulations as all other food producers. March 22 7-9 p.m. That includes knowing the food production rules and May 7 9-11 a.m. following them exactly to produce what consumers expect—a safe, high quality food product. You can come into the office at any time to take the test, FSQA certification is required for 4-H or if you are between the ages of 12-18. FFA exhibitors showing Market and/or Breeding Beef, Swine, Sheep, Rabbit, There are two ways that 4-H'ers and FFA members can Poultry, Dairy Cattle and Dairy Goats at the become FSQA certified: 2011 Dubuque County and State Fair. At the 1) Attend an FSQA Training for Youth 2011 State Fair, FSQA certification will be session. If youth attend an FSQA training session, required for exhibitors showing all meat animals. their certification is good for one year, no matter what their age. Exhibitors aged 9-11 must attend the face to face training each year. or December 2010 3 4H/FFA Family Newsletter 2) Pass an FSQA certification test. Exhibitors Iowa State Fair. Interested applicants please contact age 12-18 may go to a training session each year the fair grounds at 588-1406, or the Extension Office at 583-6496. or use the test out option. If youth pass the FSQA certification test, their certification is good until they reach the next age category. If youth are 12-14 4-H SCHOLARSHIPS years old and pass the test, their certification is good until they are 15 years old. If youth are 15-18 AVAILABLE years old and pass the test, their certification is Current and former 4-H'ers, are reminded that 4-H college scholarships are due to State 4-H Youth good until they are 19 years old. Development Office by February 1. There are over 50 different scholarships to both four-year and two Youth will be trained through one of these two methods year colleges. Check the eligibility requirements for provided by the ISU Extension Service. Although the available scholarships at the county Extension veterinarians are partners in this process and may assist office. Deadline is February 1 to the State 4-H Office. with the training sessions, veterinarians can no longer There are also scholarships for high school juniors. www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/teens/scholarships.htm sign individual certification cards for youth. Ear Tags Fall Leader Training Fall Leader training is now on line you can connect to Due to the increase in the cost of livestock ear tags this site http://www.extension.iastate.edu/4hvolunteers . this year, all ear tags that we use for weigh- in will be Remember if you are a General or Project Leader you are $2.00. This includes beef, swine and sheep. required to take this training or they will have to be re- classified. I also have the DVD here at the office. If you Beef Weigh In would like to check it out. Otherwise if you would like to get a bunch of leader friends together you are welcome If you are not going to make it to Beef Weigh In to watch it at the office in the conference room if it is on December 19th or are weighing in for State available. Fair, then you must go to either Jackson on January 2nd at the Maquoketa Livestock from 12-4:00 and they also have state fair verification, or Delaware at the Manchester Books Livestock Auction area on December 18th 8- All secretary, treasurer, and historian book are ready 11:30 and they will have state fair entries retinal to be picked up. We had a lot of good quality books scanning beginning at 10:00. You will need to this year. get tags from me. But you need to call Delaware or Jackson before you go so they know you are coming. Blue Ribbon Banquet Friday, January 14 is the Dubuque County Fruit Sales Fairgrounds annual Blue Ribbon Banquet. Sally Heacock has again volunteered to take on the 6pm Social, Prime Rib Dinner 6:30pm, task of organizing the fruit sales for 4-H. If your club entertainment by Mentalist Brian Imbus at 8pm. is interested please give her a call at 563-556-7899, as soon as possible. $40.00 per person - Complimentary, beer and soda, Mixed drinks $1.00 all evening. Call 563-588-1406 for tickets or contact any director. Fair Queen Funds raised will go toward Capital Improvement Dubuque County Fair is taking applications for their Projects. 2012 fair queen. Each contestant must be 16 years old and not more than 21 as of the first day of the 2011

December 2010 4 4H/FFA Family Newsletter Shooting Sports The Shooting Sports Club is looking for 4-H members who would be interested in learning the art of trap shooting, air rifle, and hopefully soon archery. If you are interested please contact the office, remember if you commit to this the 4-H’er has to have a parent present at all times. They will be starting training soon. If there are any adults willing to take the State training and help please let me know. Adult training will be taking place in April.

Warm Fuzzes We would like to take this time to give a big thank you to all of the people who work with the 4-H Food Stand Committee without them 4-H programs in this county would be few and far between, they help support the Banquet, the program fees, the lock in and so much more. Please thank them and help when you are asked.

We would also like to thank the great leaders and members of the Washington Senators for all their help at our 4-H Banquet. They are a great group to work with. I would also like to thank the outgoing 2010 4-H Royalty thank you for a great year you were a super group.

Iowa Junior Holstein Convention

Grab Your Shirts...Slip on Your Sandals and join Dairy enthusiast for a fun-filled Hawaiian luau at this year's annual Iowa Junior Holstein Convention on December 28-29 at the Bluffs Inn in Decorah, Iowa. All youth ages 8-21 interested in dairy are invited to attend the convention. There will be fun quiz bowl and jeopardy competitions, mixer games, pizza and a dance. Contact Luke Rauen, Iowa Junior Holstein President at [email protected] or 563-451-7878 for more information.

December 2010 5 4H/FFA Family Newsletter for their own raffle license through the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals: 2011 State Volunteer Retreat http://www.state.ia.us/government/dia/page5.html . The information about the 2011 State Volunteer Retreat, scheduled for February 11-12 is now posted on the website at However, these procedures need to change to bring us into http://www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/Volunteers/ retreat.htm. compliance with new tax accounting and reporting Scroll down to the Trainings box in the bottom right and click requirements, and new state regulations for non-profit on the State Volunteer Retreat link. When the new page pops gambling activities which can be found online; please up, if you click on State Volunteer Retreat Forms – you will reference the following websites for additional information: access all of the documents in Word format. Included in this http://www.iowa.gov/tax/educate/78506.html “Forms” link is a very important letter from the registration http://www.state.ia.us/government/dia/Chapter committee. %2099B%20amended.pdf http://www.state.ia.us/government/dia/481%20IAC As you can see, the volunteers who plan the retreat have put %20100.pdf together another fantastic set of workshops – and thank you if you are on the list to present! Please advertise the retreat in We’re still working through the implications of these your volunteer and family newsletters and feel free to put a changes. Calls have been made to the appropriate people in link to it on your county webpage. the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals to discuss these changes and we hope to know more definitively what we The cost of the retreat is only $10.00 this year thanks to a will need to do – and what we will need your help in doing – grant we have received from Monsanto for a statewide in early 2010. In the meantime, please take the following volunteer training. steps as you plan for year-end and early 2011 fundraising activities that involve raffles, bingo nights, drawings, game Remind volunteers that all registration forms should be sent nights or other gaming activities: to: 1) CALL the 4-H Foundation (515-294-1537) to discuss Ruth Wagner the event at least one week BEFORE the event 417 S.E. 6TH ST., happens. Please speak with either Theresa Samson or ANKENY, IA 50021-3425 Joe Leisz, we will review the specific appropriate reporting requirements needed at that time. 2) Be prepared to KEEP GOOD RECORDS of the activities conducted (including tickets sold, funds raised, prizes awarded, and to whom the prizes were given). 3) Be prepared to submit a WRITTEN SUMMARY of Rules for 4-H Club Raffle the activities within 10 working days (TWO WEEKS) of the end of the activity. The report may Fundraisers be an e-mail or summary submitted with checks for Date: November 30, 2009 deposit to your county endowment fund; we will share the best way to submit the report when we visit RE: 4-H Raffles, Bingo Nights, Games of Chance and other by phone. (Please be aware that, to the best of our County and Club Related Gaming Activities knowledge, we MUST SUBMIT REPORTS by the end of the month – no more than 30 days after an The new IRS 990 form and revisions to the State of Iowa’s event – in order to avoid fines from the Iowa rules and regulations regarding “Games of Chance” (including Department of Revenue). raffles, bingo nights, drawings, game nights and other gaming activities conducted as fundraisers) have raised some For additional information on current operating procedures questions about how we are working with these activities please also refer to the Financial Guidelines for Iowa 4-H through the Iowa 4-H Foundation. Clubs and Groups: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/4H71DLDR.pdf Previously, the 4-H Foundation held a central, single, gaming , and the Non-Profit and Tax Exempt Information for 4-H license which could be used by counties with 4-H County Clubs and Affiliated 4-H Organizations: Endowments when they were holding raffles, bingo nights, https://www.iowa4hfoundation.org/PDF/NonProfitInfo.pdf . drawings, game nights and other gaming activities conducted as fundraisers to support local 4-H programs. We asked each Please help by being aware of county and club activities that county to report after the event with the funds raised and deal with “Games of Chance” (including raffles, bingo nights, worked centrally to pay all the taxes and fees associated with drawings, game nights and other gaming activities conducted these activities, debiting and crediting county endowments as fundraisers) so we can do things correctly and protect the accordingly. Alternately, counties and 4-H clubs could apply clover in all of our activities. December 2010 6 4H/FFA Family Newsletter

If you have conducted a “Game of Chance” (including raffles, bingo nights, drawings, game nights or other gaming activity) in the last three months, or know of a 4-H Club or other entity that has done so, please notify us immediately (whether or not you used a license). There are state reports which must be filed. Counties, clubs and the Iowa 4-H Foundation can be held liable by the State of Iowa if we do not follow the proper procedures.

Thank you.

Joe Leisz, CFRE Executive Director

December 2010