Virginia 4-H has received $1 million from Dominion Energy — the largest cash gift in the history of the commonwealth’s largest youth organization — that will help Virginia 4-H continue to offer transformative educational experiences for years to come.
Standing for head, heart, hands, and health, 4-H uses more than a century of experience in youth development programming to build strong, confident leaders.
4-H participants are youth, ages 5 to 19, taking part in programs provided as the result of actions planned and initiated by Cooperative Extension personnel in cooperation with volunteers. With a direct connection to research at Virginia’s land-grant universities, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, 4-H is the first experience many young people have with higher educatio
n. 4-H is characterized as being community-centered, volunteer-led, Extension-staff supervised, research-based, home- and family-oriented, publicly and privately funded and responsive to change.
Dominion Energy’s investment in Virginia’s youth is an extraordinary commitment to ensure educational opportunities for children across the commonwealth and helps 4-H educational centers cope with a financial crisis created by COVID-19.
“We feel that supporting Virginia 4-H is an important way that we can give back to our home state of Virginia,” said Ed Baine, president of Dominion Energy Virginia. “4-H holds a special place for youth across the state, and we are incredibly excited about this partnership. We are honored to be able to play a part in shaping our shared future.”
Dominion Energy’s contribution is the lead gift of the Virginia 4-H Educational Centers Campaign to raise $4 million to ensure the educational centers continue to be an irreplaceable community nexus for years to come.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been an extraordinarily difficult time for everyone, and that reality is also true for 4-H educational centers. Providing in-person 4-H educational experiences to serve youth was not possible in 2020, which has had both short- and long-term negative financial impacts on the six educational centers located throughout the commonwealth.
As the cornerstone of the 4-H experience, the educational centers serve more than 13,000 Virginia youth campers each summer. Nearly 18,000 Virginia youth take part in 4-H’s overnight programming, and for many, this starts them down the path of learning by doing. More than 250,000 youth take part in Virginia 4-H’s powerful youth programs in the areas of STEM, agriculture, healthy living and civic engagement. Virginia 4-H is the largest youth organization in the state and has more than 1 million alumni over the course of the organization’s history.
“This is a truly transformative gift for Virginia 4-H,” said Dennis Treacy, a former executive vice president of Smithfield and former rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, who is also a member of the 4-H Blue Ribbon Fundraising Committee. “Our youth are our future health care workers, scientists, farmers, educators and problem solvers. Dominion Energy’s support will help us strengthen the social and emotional support systems available to our next generation of leaders.”
4-H helps underserved communities and youth and offers community programs. Today, an equal number of youths in the program come from urban areas and rural ones. More than 40 percent of Virginia 4-H youth are from underserved populations.
There are countless stories across the state that show how Virginia 4-H has not only transformed lives, but has made a lasting impact on local communities.
In her Fairfax community, 17-year-old Alexa Mitchell works to provide basic needs that can transform lives. Through her 4-H club garden plot, she has donated food to local food pantries, and she has also raised money to support local homeless shelters.
“It was this experience that caused me to search for more opportunities to help those in need,” said Mitchell, the 2020 overall Youth in Action award winner for Virginia 4-H. “I’ve learned to appreciate the value of making an impact on my community. In a time like this, when people’s normal sources of food have suddenly halted, it’s important to make sure that I’m doing what I can to help.”
Elsewhere in the commonwealth, Andie Harris of Wytheville said 4-H camp was a transformative experience that set her on the path to becoming a lawyer.
“4-H camp helped me learn how to be independent, confident, and taught me when to lead and when to follow,” Harris said. “If it wasn’t for 4-H camp and the classes offered there, I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to experience and learn so many skills, both practical and fun, which have become so integral to my adulthood. I am grateful for the confidence and lifelong friends I gained all those years ago at 4-H camp.”
— Written by Max Esterhuizen