During the Great Depression, Edgar Rhodes lived in the
country and worked on his
family’s dairy. He’d seldom been out of the county and never
out of the state.

“That was during the deep Depression,” he said. “There
was no money back
then to amount to anything. Our county agent organized a 4-H
livestock judging team. I was
one of the members. We won state and got to go to Chicago.
That just opened a new world
for me.”

4-H changes
lives

Rhodes was
a member of Georgia 4-H from
1929 to 1933. Now a longstanding member of the University
System of Georgia Board of Regents, he gets a closeup
look at how 4-H has changed and
how it changes the lives of children.

“I’ve seen kids who hardly had a chance to do anything
do things they would never
have gotten to do,” he said. “It really helps mold a child
into an adult who
makes a contribution to the community. I’m sold on 4-H, FFA,
Boy Scouts and Girl
Scouts.”

Commemorative stamp
campaign

With 4-H nearing its centennial year, the National
Association of Extension 4-H
Agents has begun a campaign to have a 4-H
commemorative stamp issued.

“Each year, the U.S.
Postal Service gets about
40,000 requests for stamp designs,” said Royce James,
a University of Georgia
Extension
Service agent in Bibb County and president of the
Georgia Association of Extension 4-H
Agents.

Support for stamp
needed

“The more support you get for your stamp idea, the
better your chances,”
James said. “We’re trying to get former 4-H’ers, agents
and friends of 4-H across the
nation to support the issuance of the 4-H stamp in 2002.”

Only 30-35 commemorative stamps are issued each year. A
12-member Citizens Stamp
Advisory Committee studies applications and makes
recommendations to the Postmaster
General.

“Massive support is obviously needed to make the 4-H
Centennial Stamp application
stand out from all the others,” James said.

Send your
support

Letters must be sent by March 31 to: Citizen’s Stamp
Advisory Committee, c/o Stamp
Development, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW,
Room 4474E, Washington, D.C.
20260-2437.

Letters should explain why a 4-H Centennial Stamp
should be issued in 2002. Tell how
you are (or were) involved in 4-H, how 4-H has affected
your life or is special to you.

Reflecting on what 4-H meant to his life and the lives
of other children, Rhodes is a
strong supporter. “I think issuing a stamp would be one of
the better things that
could give 4-H the recognition they deserve,” he said.

4-H
origins

The origin of the 4-H Club is widely disputed. Many
Georgia historians contend that the
first 4-H Clubs were the Boys Corn Club in Covington, Ga.,
and the Girls Canning Club in
Hancock County. Ohio claims the earliest program
established in 1902.

“4-H actually started in several places about the same
time,” said Bo Ryles, state
4-H leader with the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.

4-H today

“When you have a program as successful and powerful as
4-H has been for almost a
century, everybody wants to be a part,” Ryles said. “The 4-
H program has made a
lasting impact on the lives of many of us. Right now, we
have nearly 140,000 young people
in Georgia in the 4-H Club. There are more than 6 million
members nationally.”

Over the past century, 4-H has helped young people
learn by doing. The program began
with agricultural roots, promoting young people using
their head, hearts, hands and health
to make a better world. Now 4-H includes projects from
poultry to photography.