OakTown 4-H Families, the online registration system is now open• for the 2016-2017 year. The link is here: https://california.4honline.com

The instructions for registering are on our "Oak Town 4-H Enrollment" page.
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It's important for our adult volunteers to get registered as soon as possible . However, the youth can wait until September to enroll and won't be approved until all paperwork and fees and such are received. 

* 8/24/16 The online Registration site is now OPEN

​*8/19/16: The online registration system is temporarily unavailable for maintenance.  This note will be removed when the system is back up. In the meantime, all the links to forms and documents on the "Oak Town 4-H Enrollment" page are current and you can go ahead and print, read through them and complete them while waiting for the registration site to open back up.

This past July, in partnership with 4-H, Fenton's gave 25% of the profits of the sundae of the month to the Alameda County 4-H Program to help those who need it with registration fees. 

OakTown's Rabbit project made plenty of noise at the Fair, sweeping 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in first year Rabbit Showmanship.  Congratulations to Alice, Mickey, and Jessica, who won in their first year showing.  Bailey took home Reserve Champion in Advanced Showmanship.  Oaktown's 3 Rabbit Bowl teams had a strong showing, with Bailey's senior team taking the gold medal. OakTown Rabbits, including Nora, Mabel, and Evie may receive some more recognition at this evening's Small Animal Awards.

OakTown Rabbits will be on display at the fair through Saturday, 6/25.

OakTown 4-H is pleased to announce our garden display won 1st in its class and Best in Show at the Alameda County Fair.  Our theme is "Back Yard Picnic", and will be on display for the length of the Fair.  Youth members and adults alike pitched in on the design, hand-painted backdrop, and transformation of this empty space into a beautiful setting for a picnic.

Volunteer and help get donations for food for the Alameda County Food Bank.
Saturday, November 21st 1:00 - 2:30 or 2:30 - 4:00

The event is a collaboration between Safeway and the Alameda County Food Bank to get donations of food to the food bank.

We will have a table outside of the Fruitvale Safeway (across the street from Dimond Library) asking people, as they walk in to consider buying the $10 pre-packed food bags to donate to ACFB. Wear your Oaktown 4H T-shirt. I will also bring extras if you do not have one.

This is something young kids can definitely participate in.  We do need adult volunteers too.  Please consider staying with your child and helping out.

Date: 11/21/2015 (Sat.)
Location: Safeway on Fruitvale

​http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0b4fabad2aa4fb6-4hsign

OakTown 4-H November Club meeting is November 9th at 6:30pm at Dimond Recreation Center off Hanley Road in Oakland. Come join us for

• Healthy Living Presentation for all youth members
• New Angora Goat Project information for youth 9+
• Reports on recent 4-H events and information on coming events
• Special Primary Member (ages 5-8) program
• Games, door prizes, snacks
• "Oak Town 4-H Club" T-Shirt Order info
• 4-H Uniform Ordering Info

When: Monday, August 10 6–8pm
Where: Dimond Park, Sequoia Grove Picnic Area
What: Bring your own picnic, we will provide dessert

Find out all about 4-H, meet the members of OakTown club and get answers to your questions about:

• 4-H projects, membership and volunteer opportunities
• See project displays and information
• Play games and participate in activities
• Get to know other families

We look forward to meeting you!

This year our new club, OakTown 4-H, made its debut by doing community service and outreach at Fentons Creamery in Oakland (yes it's a real place!) The weekend they gave us was coincidentally Fentons 120th Anniversary. Boy, were we busy! -- George Butko

Fair Dates: Wednesday, June 17—Sunday, July 5, 2015

Oak Town 4-H Project Leaders and Parents,
Most of the Alameda County Fair information for youth is now posted here. (Livestock is not yet up but I don't believe we have any leaders for livestock projects at this point). Please do take a look at the catalogs. There is much information here and kids can enter many different things. I intend to go over this in more detail at the April Club meeting but PLEASE look at the various packets under the "Competitive Youth" column or view the " YOUTH Complete Guide" here.

If you have Primary members (youth 5–8 years old) pay special attention to what they can enter. There are special categories and contests for this age group. ANY questions, please ask. 

Thanks, Barbara    

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 6:30PM
2727 Fruitvale Ave, Oakland, CA 94601
Tickets can be purchased at: 
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1285402 
  
Journalist and Author Kiera Butler reads from her new book "Raise: What 4-H Teaches 7 Million Kids and How Its Lessons Could Change Food and Farming Forever" Join Pollinate Farm & Garden as we welcome journalist and author Kiera Butler for a reading and discussion from her book "Raise: What 4-H Teaches 7 Million Kids and How Its Lessons Could Change Food and Farming Forever".

Saturday, April 4, 2015!

This spring there are several opportunities to take part in community service activities… most fairly local or drives to collect items for other club's projects. 

Dunsmuir House has an annual Easter Party the day before Easter and asks for 4-H families to come with whatever small animals can be easily transported and contained for a 4-hour community event. Participating in this event helps offset the cost of the facility use fees for Dunsmuir House for Dog Field Day in May and they are looking for rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs, rats, small goats and the like with some sort of portable enclosure to contain them.

Check here for an update that aired this week:
http://wn.ktvu.com/story/28193022/inspired-resident-aims-to-reopen-oakland-stables. 

Sunday, March 15 from 1:30pm–5:30pm 

I will host a gathering of parents and leaders discussing topics such as Record Books, Fair Entry, Camp and more. While this is meant for interested parents, if older youth want to attend that is fine but the focus will be navigating the end of our first year successfully. We will be having a guest speaker to introduce you to the Online Record Book program and how to use it to document all the hours and activities spent on 4-H Projects, Club Meetings and activities and other 4-H Events. 

Contact Barbara at oaktown4k@gmail.com if you have additional topics and concerns you would like addressed.

Meeting Theme: Wear Your Sports Jerseys or Sports Hats

The March Oak Town 4-H Meeting will be Monday, March 9 from 6:30PM–7:45PM at Dimond Recreation Center. Our Club Officer Team has put together another fun meeting for you with an exciting guest speaker.

• Community Service: Spring Basket Supplies Drive benefitting Oakland's Operation Dignity
• Please bring: large spring baskets, paper grass, small new toys, books, stuffed animals, candy, personal care items (children's toothbrushes, tooth paste, shampoo, combs, brushes)
• Program: Native Bees! Guest Speaker is Sara Leon Guerrero from Urban Bee Lab, UC Berkeley
• Primary Project: Constructing Bee Hotels
• March Birthdays Celebration with Jacob and Chloe
• Games with our Recreation Team
• Snacks: WHO SIGNED UP????
• Door Prizes (we will limit the number of tickets in circulation this month!)

By Jessica B., Abbie 4-H

Operation Dignity is an organization based in Oakland that helps the families of homeless vets. They help vets with emergency and transitional housing and services to help them get back on their feet. Abbie 4-H has been helping this organization provide a happy spring for these children for several years. This year, OakTown 4-H will be helping to make baskets as part of our Community Service efforts.

Here’s how you can help:
Bring to the March Community Club meeting (Monday, March 9th at Dimond Park) items to help make Easter Baskets such as:

• New Stuffed Animals
• Small games or toys such as Rubix cubes, decks of cards, Slinkies, balls, color crayons and books etc.
• Bags of candy or chocolate bunnies
• Useful items for homeless children such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoos, hand sanitizers, hairbrushes etc.
• Large bows, ribbon or cellophane for wrapping baskets
• OR Donate money to help buy ready-made baskets

Our goal is to complete baskets, not just gather materials. The children range in age up to young teenagers, so we will need a range of age appropriate items. Please bring supplies to donate.

OakTown Families,

Camp reg. Will open for chaperones and staff on March 1, campers will begin registration on March 15. Check out  lpcamp.com then click the Alameda tab/link. All camp info and registration info is there. 

Registration opens on March 15. Please go to lasposadas4hcamp.org

If your child wants to attend 4-H camp this year -- Register today! 4-H Camp is open for youth 9 and up and they just need to be 9 at the time of camp.

Camp registration fills quickly. Please speak to Emily or Michelle if your child needs financial assistance to attend camp. We want every OakTown member to attend camp if they want to attend. 

Thanks, Barbara