Valley 4-H Club Leaders established this fund, originally with Washington State 4-H Foundation, on May 8, 1991. Mary Richen was the founding leader of Valley 4-H. Sometime in the 1960s Myra Meeker took over leadership, then Susan Parr became the main club leader around 1975. The first scholarships were given in 1977. Margaret Mason became the Leader in 2016. The club is generally a home economics, arts, and small animals club, with many exceptions to that over the years. Depending on members’ interests and willing leadership there have been projects as diverse as welded art, canoe building, and book binding. Valley 4-H emphasizes developing character-building skills through public presentations, leadership development, and judging. Recordkeeping, through the diligent keeping of record books has been a mainstay of the club.
Members are active in many different community service activities. They support the Grange by collecting used eyeglasses, stamps, and pop tops; they collect canned food for the food bank, donate gently used items for the clothing drive, and support military troops by sending handmade cards and cookies. Active participation at fairs is encouraged. Many teen members help out at the Pierce County Fair as superintendents at Fashion Revue, running the Fashion Revue practice, teaching the younger members how to model on stage and stay quiet backstage, and emceeing the show. Others help in the home economics building, in the animal barns, or at the infonnation booth. Teen members have also attended many events such as National Congress in Atlanta, Georgia; National Conference in WA, DC; District Teen Rally; State Teen Conference; and Know Your Government in Olympia. Quite a few have even been on the planning committees for these events. Valley 4-H is proud to have members who are competent, confident members of society who join in and give back to their communities as youth and as adults.