Pleasant Point Resident Recognized for Volunteer Work with Extension Youth Program
Contact: Jennifer Lobley, 207-255-0929 or 800-287-1542 (jlobley@umext.maine.edu)
PLEASANT POINT–National 4-H Council, with generous support from the JCPenney Afterschool Fund, has recognized Frank Cleaves of Pleasant Point Indian Reservation with the 4-H Afterschool “Opens Doors” volunteer award. Cleaves is one of 25 4-H after-school volunteers across the county–and the only person from Maine–to receive the award.
Cleaves became involved with Pleasant Point’s Sipayik Boys & Girls Club a year and a half ago, after returning from a one-year deployment in Iraq with the National Guard. The Boys & Girls Club had recently begun to work with University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s 4-H program to expand after-school activities, and Cleaves received training as part of this partnership. He became excited about the possibilities presented by the melding of the two programs and signed up as a 4-H volunteer, becoming the driving force behind a successful “Lights On” event by galvanizing the community and involving over 100 youth in educational and cultural activities.
Cleaves reports that the Boys and Girls Club kids enjoy the diversity of the 4-H program. Every day, more than 40 kids aged five through 12 participate in theme-based 4-H activities. Last summer the club’s teenagers used railroad ties to build raised flower beds and planted flowers outside of the club. “They really lit up the place,” enthused Cleaves, who is organizing an upcoming 4-H skating party outdoors. The skating party will include “not just skating but snow sleds, hot dogs, hot chocolate… parents and kids… it will be a real community event.”
Cleaves is currently working with UMaine Extension Educator Jen Lobley and Harper Dean, the director of Special Services for Maine Indian Education, to explore opportunities to fund a position at the Sipayik Boys and Girls Club that would focus on the integration of 4-H club and project work.
Opens Doors awards recognize 4-H volunteers who are involved in 4-H after-school programming in their communities. These volunteers help train after-school program staff, increase the use of 4-H curricula in after-school programs, and organize 4-H clubs in after-school programs in which youth learn leadership, citizenship and life skills. Visit 4husa.org or 4hafterschool.org for more information about 4-H and 4-H Afterschool.