This year our little club has had quite the successful and promising start. We started off our year in February when we had an amazing time in Guelph and won Winter Games. We returned home to Renfrew County to much excitement and congratulations from our alumni and some public recognition in our local papers. This recognition increased interest in our club and lead to us adding some new members. Having more members has allowed us to increase our presence in the community, most notably when we wished everyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day and put a float in the annual Douglas St. Patrick’s Day parade. The Douglas St. Patrick’s Day parade was also our first club event where we got to show off our new club signs that were donated as a surprise by the Wytenburg and Schultz family.
Since the Douglas St. Patrick’s Day Parade we have continued to increase our community presence by participating in local events and fundraisers. As well, we have been actively working to raise awareness of our club through marketing. Besides increasing our online activity, one of the ways we have promoted our club was through a presentation at one of our local Rotary Clubs. The presentation covered the history of Junior Farmers, what we do as a Junior Farmers club, the opportunities available for members of Junior Farmers, and what it means to be a Junior Farmer. We ended April by entering a team in our local Plowmen’s Association’s trivia night fundraiser for the 2015 Renfrew County Plowing Match and, even though we were the youngest team there, we ended the night tied for second place. The next local event we are planning to attend is a local blood donation clinic followed by Renfrew Collegiate Institute’s (RCI) 9th annual Relay for Life Friday May 22. This year RCI has chosen “Through the Years” as the theme for their Relay for Life, so we’re going to break out our best retro outfits while we support cancer research.
As May turns into June some of our members are going to be heading to Leadership Camp as we prepare to defend our title at Carleton County’s 2nd annual Redneck Games and start organizing to host the six international delegates at the end of June. Again this year we are planning to take the international delegates, and any other interested junior farmers, white-water rafting at Wilderness Tours on Saturday June 27. Saturday will start in the morning or early afternoon with a full day of rafting followed by a bonfire party in the evening. Rough camping will be available both Friday and Saturday night for anyone going rafting. Anyone planning to go rafting is also invited to our square-dance/two-step night with Renfrew County 4-H Friday June 26. We will be starting the music Friday night at 7:00pm & we will go till midnight or until we can’t dance anymore. More details will be available as we get closer to June so watch out for your invite, but if you have any questions feel free to contact us at renfrewcountyjf@hotmail.com or through Facebook.
Friday, June 26, 2015 – Square-dance/Two-step Night – 7pm–12am
Saturday, June 27, 2015 – Whitewater Rafting followed by bonfire party
Meredith Mulligan is the President of Renfrew Junior Farmers. Follow them at @rcjuniorfarmers.
