December 2010 - 4-H Ontario

4-H ONTARIO LEADERSHIP IN ACTION • DECEMBER 2010 • PAGE 6
Amazing Exchange between York 4-H and Kyle Saskatchewan
by Jacquie Rogstad
It all began in December 2009 when
we started planning for the exchange. We
were so excited to have 10 superb 4Her’s
representing York and their enthusiasm
was contagious. We started planning with
fundraising and meetings and the next
thing we knew we had our first fundraiser
underway. It just took off from there!
It was a lot of work and our parents
were fabulous. They pitched in and
helped at every fundraiser whenever
they could. A team couldn’t have asked
for better support. Our President, Glenda
Hamilton was our backbone. She helped
plan, organize, and keep records, both
written and financial. A big KUDOS goes
out to her and her support of the team.
The team consisted of 10 delegates and
two Chaperones. We called our team the
“X Team” and our exchange club explored
a lot of aspects of 4-H and all it has to offer.
Examples of clubs we touched on were:
woodworking, sewing, scrapbooking,
baking, public speaking, fundraising,
quilting, photography, and healthy
eating.
Previous to the exchange delegates
chatted through MSN, Facebook,
and e-mail. It was amazing at how
closely matched the twins (refers to our
group and the Saskatchewan group)
were and how well they all got along.
Saskatchewan came here first.
When they arrived we greeted them
at the airport and it felt like we were
picking up old friends. We took them
on a farm tour and some of our 4Her’s
toured them around their farms and over
to the Bradford Marsh. That evening we
went to Lionel’s petting farm in Stouffville.
We were given a tour of their barns of
antiques, a wagon ride of the property and
had a great barbeque where we handed
out gifts to our guests from
Saskatchewan.
We took the Saskatchewan
group to Niagara Falls, Great
Wolf Lodge, Collingwood for
the Scenic Caves, Wasaga
beach, and downtown
Toronto for a Blue Jays
Game (they won by the
way!). We went to the Loose
Moose for supper and the
CN Tower. We took most of
them on a subway ride that
was an adventure in itself.
Our group then had a
two-week rest period before flying off to
Saskatchewan. We left Ontario’s humidity
to land in Saskatchewan to a balmy 13
degrees. Yikes!
With no time to drop off our luggage,
we were off to Rouleau where Corner
Gas was filmed. Some of the delegates
actually got to sign the wall of Corner Gas,
then we went to the underground tunnels
of Moose Jaw - bootleg tunnels of Al
Capone - and the Chinese underground
community hidden away from society.
Whew!
Our next outing was to the Hutterite
Colony of Kyle. They own around 78,000
acres! They showed how many hands
made light work and after lunch we had
a baseball game with the children ranging
in age from 4 to 17.
That night they had a club barbeque
and we were presented with a bag of
gifts and an exchange t-shirt that one
of the delegates had designed. After
that first day we had many excursions,
to Lacadena and La Reata Ranch, this
ranch is like a dude ranch where you can
go to rustle cattle and horses. We went
to the Matador Farming Pool. They have
about 87,000 acres. We went on a partial
tour of their farm, covering
23,000 acres in 4 ½ hours. It
was amazing!
We went to a location of an
ancient Medicine Wheel and
to a winter tee-pee site, to
White Bear where we helped
with a fundraiser to help raise
funds for a 4-H family that
lost their home to a fire.
York 4-H stepped up to
the challenge and pitched
in to help. They were outstanding
representations of what Ontario 4-H is all
about.
On our “free” day some of us worked on
the family farm, went tubing on the river
Saskatchewan, hunted for gophers, or
went horseback riding.
We also did Cypress Hill, a Geo Cache,
which is like orienteering with a GPS
system, and Fort Walsh. We camped out
at Willow Diamond retreat had a huge
bonfire and made bush pies and smores.
The next morning we were off to
Sceptre Sand Hills.
Sceptre Sand Hills are miles and
miles of dunes of sand that are always
morphing with the wind. We left our mark
behind with a Giant ON/SK in the sand.
We took a ferry across the river
Saskatchewan to head back home at the
end of the day.
We arrived at our twins home, did
our laundry, and packed our suitcases
because when we would wake up in the
morning it would be off to Saskatoon to
do some sightseeing and shopping. For
dinner that night we had a ‘Pitch Fork
Fondue’. It was an amazing evening and
Andrew, one of our delegates showed off
his auctioneering skills.
The next day we got up to catch an
early flight. It was a tearful goodbye.
I would have to say this was
the best exchange I have helped
with, chaperoned at and been
involved with. I couldn’t have asked for a
better Co-chaperone, President, parents
and delegates on both sides of the
exchange. Thank you 4-H Canada for this
experience of a lifetime. It looks like we have
made life-long friends with our twins.