Cranberry Red: A Novel

26. RFD

The following article appeared in the Ames County Argus on July 30: A new Wisconsin youth organization officially began this week. The organization will be called the Wisconsin RFD and seeks to replace Wisconsin 4-H clubs, which were eliminated when the legislature slashed the state budget and closed all county agricultural agent offices on July 1. Although affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point’s environmental program, the organization will receive no tax dollars and will be funded entirely by member dues, a modest grant given by an anonymous donor, and fund raising. “Wisconsin RFD is named after rural free delivery, which began in 1896 in West Virginia and soon spread across the country. With rural free delivery, farmers for the first time could receive mail delivered to their farmsteads. It was a revolutionary idea in its time, just as the RFD program for young people is revolutionary in our time,” said Henry Hopkins, executive director of the new organization. Hopkins, former agricultural agent and one-time 4-H and youth agent for Portage County, further explained, “We intend to follow in the footsteps of the 4-H program that served Wisconsin’s young people, both rural and urban, for more than a hundred years. Our program will emphasize taking care of the land, growing one’s own food, and various aspects of nature study. The core of RFD is the local club, led by a 108 RFD 26 109 RFD volunteer leader. We accept members eight years old to sixteen, no matter where they live—cities, small towns, or in the country. Our symbol is a barn, a long-standing icon for Wisconsin agriculture and rural living.” When asked about this recent development, Gladys Swendryzinski, Link Lake, commented, “It was a colossal mistake for the legislature to eliminate the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Agent Program and the long-standing and highly respected 4-H program. I will certainly be a supporter of this new RFD program for our young people.The Boy and Girl Scouts have done and continue to do wonderful work. But there is a need for a youth program with environmental education and food self-sufficiency as its goal, which is what RFD purports to do.” RFD club members, according to Executive Director Hopkins, can enroll in a series of projects ranging from gardening to prairie restoration , from nature photography to the study of endangered species, from home preservation of fruits and vegetables to quilt making. Hopkins said many will want to enroll in a special project called “Climate” in which RFD members study the effects of climate change by noting when area lakes freeze in winter and thaw in spring, when they see the first migrating birds in the spring, and when the last ones leave in fall. The Wisconsin RFD has begun a comprehensive fund drive to provide the necessary money to support the main office, train volunteers, and assist local communities and organizations that may wish to sponsor a local RFD club. For further information, go to www.wisconsinrfd.org. ...