This Community Has Heart - For 4-H

4th Annual Have a Heart for 4-H Green Tie Affair is an Overwhelming Success

-By Kate Ewer, 4-H Community Educator

MAYVILLE, NEW YORK (March 22, 2016) -- Cornell Cooperative Extension Chautauqua County’s 4-H Youth Development program would like to thank the community for their overwhelming support at the 2016 Have a Heart for 4-H Green Tie Affair. The Chautauqua Suites in Mayville was filled to the seams with 700 dinner guests. 4-H Clubs, Animal Project Advisory Committees, and community members donated 101 baskets to the raffle which was a near sellout. The 2nd annual pie auction sponsored by The Cakery boasted thirty-five pies baked by 4-H’ers and friends of 4-H sold for an average of $281 per pie. The most expensive pie, a pecan baked by friend of 4-H Shirley Ewer, was bought by H&H Enterprises for $1,050. Vic Richardson volunteered his auctioneering services for the evening.

Families and local businesses sponsored 71 out of a total of 100 tables. An additional 20 tables were sold for a grand total of 91 tables sold or sponsored. Overall, $27,000 was raised to ensure the continuation of 4-H in Chautauqua County into 2017 and beyond.

4-H youth and adult volunteers put in many hours before the dinner took place creating centerpieces for every table, compiling baskets for the raffle, baking pies, wrapping silverware, and telling their communities about the Green Tie Affair. 50 youth and adult volunteers helped on the day of the dinner preparing and serving the salad as well as serving water and providing cleanup.

How much food does it take to feed 700 people, you ask? Many local businesses and organizations donated food items and without their support the event would have been much less profitable. The 4-H Horse Advisory Committee donated half the cost of 275 pounds of chicken, the Stockton Panthers 4-H Club, Mary Dorman, Vince and Lana Baran, and Cassadaga Shur-Fine donated 60 pounds of stuffing, Chautauqua County Beef Producers Association donated 300 pounds of potatoes, and Flatsview Farm and Ashville General Store donated the canned mixed vegetables. The “Stow”-A-Way Kids 4-H Club, Ken and Helen Styers, and Beth Southworth donated sixteen gallons of salad dressing. Fieldbrook Foods donated 540 single-serve ice cream cups, Upstate Farms donated 10 cases of milk in pints, O-At-Ka Dairy and Valerie Moss-Deegan donated 50 pounds of butter, and Welch’s donated canned juices for the event. Stedman Coffee Roasters donated coffee and serving staff for the evening. The Harmony Haystackers 4-H Club and A New Dawn’s Daycare donated creamer and sugar. 3C’s Catering, C.A. Curtze, and Maplevale Farms donated a large portion of the paper goods for the event.

Chautauqua County 4-H would like to thank all community sponsors for their efforts to support the continuation of 4-H programming in Chautauqua County. New York State 4-H works hard to connect youth with hands-on learning opportunities that help them grow into competent, caring, contributing members of society. 

The 4-H Youth Development Program is one of many programs offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County (CCE-Chautauqua). CCE-Chautauqua is a community based educational organization, affiliated with Cornell University, Chautauqua County Government, the NYS SUNY system, and the federal government through the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. For more information, call 716-664-9502 or visit our website at www.cce.cornell.edu/chautauqua. Cornell University Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities.

Last updated March 24, 2016