Collinsville’s Dairy Capitol 4-H is busy giving back this holiday season. Recipients of this generosity include a food pantry, public library and military kids.

On November 11, club members and volunteers donated approximately 270 pounds of food collected by the Tulsa County 4-H V.O.I.C.E. (Volunteers Organized In Club Education) to the Faith Lutheran Church Food pantry. V.O.I.C.E. members are collecting food at each of their quarterly meetings to donate to area food pantries and the pantry at Faith Lutheran Church is the first recipient of this bounty.

The next donation made by the Dairy Capitol 4-H Club was to the Collinsville Public Library. The 4-H Club meets there 3 Mondays a month and to say thank you, Club Leader Deb Lutz created a stuffed table top Christmas tree for the 4-H Club to donate to the library silent auction fund raiser which runs from November 27-December 12. The Friends of the Collinsville Library are holding the Christmas Tree Silent Auction to benefit Teen and Children’s programming at CV Library.

Dairy Capitol 4-H members are now focusing on their next project: Operation Military Kids: Hero Packs. Oklahoma State and county Extension staff, community agencies, schools, and 4-H Club youth are reaching out to military youth…before, during and after their parents are deployed. This outreach effort is called Operation: Military Kids.

When National Guard, Army Reserve and other military parents living in civilian communities are mobilized, their children suddenly have different needs. Now they are “military kids” but they still “look the same” to teachers, friends and the rest of the community. Their lives are turned upside down! Operation Military Kids, which offers peer-to-peer encouragement, gives the opportunity for 4-H members to connect with these kids. Included in each Hero Pack is a personalized letter to say thank you and show appreciation for all that their parent(s) do for our country.

Through December the Collinsville Dairy Capitol 4-H Club is collecting items that will be used to fill the “Hero Packs.” Collection boxes can be located at the following locations: Collinsville Family Pharmacy, Collinsville Public Library, Silver Dollar Café in Collinsville, Attitudes Dance Studio in Collinsville and Faith Lutheran Church in Owasso. Suggested donations include: postage stamps, stationary, postcards, disposable cameras, pens, envelopes, small hand games or small stuffed animals.

If you have questions on 4-H you can contact club leader Deb Lutz at 371-8236 or by emailing 4deblutz@gmail.com.

Robin Bushyhead accepts a table top Christmas Tree on behalf of the Collinsville Public Library. Presenting the tree are Dairy Capitol member Rhiannon Guinn and Club vice president Tyler Lutz. The Friends of the Collinsville Library are holding a Christmas Tree Silent Auction now - December 12 to benefit Teen and Children’s programming at CV Library. -- Photo by Deb Lutz

Front row (l-r): Breana Barker, Trinity Patton, Avery Maxwell, and Paige Jones
Back row (l-r): Stanley Nuttle, Jarrett Stehl, Corey Calhoun, Chris Thao, and Dustin Leach