The government will provide the organization with $150,000 annually
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
British Columbia’s ag ministry is strengthening its support for a provincial youth organization.
The ministry committed $150,000 to 4-H British Columbia for the 2018-19 fiscal year. That figure represents an increase of $63,000 from previous years.
4-H B.C. has about 2,300 members in 125 local clubs.
Increasing 4-H’s funding will allow the organization to continue teaching youths important life skills and where their food comes from.
“The work that 4-H does it critical to connecting the youth with agriculture and, for me, it’s really making sure that we’ve got a connection to food in the future,” Lana Popham, B.C.’s minister of agriculture, said during the funding announcement on Sept. 28 at the Cranbrook Community Garden, the Cranbrook Daily Townsman reported.
Representatives from the organization are grateful for the donation.
The government’s increased commitment will help 4-H provide programs to its rural, urban and Indigenous members.
"The additional funds will be used to promote agriculture and 4-H to youth so that they can develop life skills such as leadership," Aleda Welch, manager of 4-H B.C, told Farms.com in an email.
“We have so many (different) projects that anybody can be in,” Heather Serafini, president of 4-H B.C., told the Cranbrook Daily Townsman. “Right from gardening, to small engine, to adopt a grandparent and all those different aspects that people can do. And with the funding, that enables the province to be able to spend it at a better rate and help more people and be able to involve more kids.”
Popham’s attributes the increased funding to changes in her budget.
“Our government increased my agriculture budget more than it’s ever been increased ever in the history of the (province’s) agriculture budget,” she said. “I’ve got full support from the premier to do this.”
Farms.com has reached out to 4-H B.C. for more information on how the funding will help the organization.