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Holiday Greenery Sale
We are excited to announce the launch of the annual Stanly County 4-H Holiday Greenery Sale fundraiser!
This sale is one of our most important fundraisers, with all proceeds directly supporting Stanly County youth programs. It's a wonderful way to find high-quality holiday decor while investing in the next generation of leaders!
Featured Items:
Important Dates & Details
Order Deadline: Monday, November 17, 2025 at 12PM
Pickup Day: Tuesday, December 2nd, 9am-6pmPickup LocationStanly Agri-Civic Center 26032 Newt Rd, Albemarle NC
You can find the full order form, payment options (Cash or Checks made out to Stanly Co 4-H), and detailed item descriptions on our website.
Text the word WREATH to 888-507-9628 for updates on the sale!
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Like, Comment & Share, to Spread the Word!
Spreading the word throughout the community is one of 4-H’s greatest challenges here in Stanly County. 4-H’ers, their families and Extension volunteers can help! Post flyers around the community about fundraisers, club meetings, etc - ask our office for hard copies! Share our posts on social media! Like our posts on social media! Always leave a comment when you see one of our posts. Share a link to our newsletter page so other families can keep up with all the opportunities available to their young people! TALK about your experience in 4-H and what you enjoy about it. Bring friends to your club meetings!
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Looking for a group project or task that would really help us help others?
Pastor Steve Jirgal with Community Church in Locust donated several of these bags containing swabs, rounds, toothpaste and this assortment of other hygiene related items. We have been able to drop one of these in food assistance boxes and bless families we serve. We absolutely LOVE these bags as these are all items that everyone needs but are seldom available at a food pantry.If your group or family
decides to take on a project like this, let us know! We want and need them for the future! You make a difference.....in Jesus' name!
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Stanly 4-H'ers Harvest Sweet Potatoes
We love and value partnerships here at Stanly 4-H, and want to shout out to our friends at the Plants for Human Health Institute’s STEM education program for providing resources to promote teaching in the garden! Mr. Doug Vernon helped coordinate and provide sweet potato slips this spring to both Oakboro Choice STEM and Endy Elementary Schools as well as Quality Childcare Center and Rocky River Riders and Sunny Oaks Farm 4-H Club all in Stanly County. Doug also came out to visit future 4-H’ers (preschoolers) at Quality Childcare Center and Sunny Oaks Farm 4-H Club members during their sweet potato harvest! What a cool experience for all the young people to watch the transformation from slips to pounds and pounds of yummy sweet potatoes!
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Annual Enrollment Coming Up December/January
4-HO will close down for maintenance in late December/Early January.
All volunteers and 4-H youth members will be marked “inactive”
and will be required to re-enroll in early January.
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Once a 4-H Leader, Always a 4-H Leader
The Stanly 4-H program is growing! Up from one club, one volunteer to 6 clubs and 14 volunteers in 2 years, and rightfully so! Our county boasts nearly 10,000 5-18 year olds, and we ain to serve each and every one of them. Our growing team of volunteers held its second quarterly meeting last month. We’d like to thank them all for the time and effort they put into running their clubs as well as gathering to provide feedback, help set the trajectory for our program’s future and support one another. We’d also like to send a huge thank you to Ms. Sandy Hatley who spoke to our volunteers and shared tips for club leader success. Sandy served Stanly 4-H as a 4-H parent and club leader for many years. She mentored new club leaders and even
raised a former Stanly 4-H Agent. We were delighted to learn from her and appreciate her continued support for 4-H.
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Winter Enrichment for all Teens
Save the date! January 10th, 2026 in Cabarrus County, teen 4-H'ers from our district will gather for team-building. leadership development & fun in Cabarrus County. All teens are invited. More details to come.
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NC 4-H Volunteer Leaders Association State Conference
January 30-Feb 1, 2026
Stanly County 4-H will cover the cost for 4-H Volunteers to attend, including conference registration AND hotel at double occupancy (aka if they are willing to share a hotel room with another attendee)!
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4-H Summer Camp at Millstone
It’s TIME to claim your spot for 4-H overnight camp. Our county will attend Millstone
4-H Camp June 21-26. $555 is the full cost to attend with us. Need-based scholarships are available, and Stanly 4-H’ers typically receive a substantial discount based on fundraising proceeds raised in the Fall Greenery Sale and Spring Plant Sales. Spots are limited. Please contact Mandy Smith-Thompson no later than Feb 1 and submit a $50 deposit to reserve your spot!
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South Central District Teen Retreat
Share with your club members!
Save the date! Friday, March 27th through Sunday, March 29th are on hold for this event. Current District Officers will soon decide whether it will be a Fri-Sat or Sat-Sun event. Teen Retreat is an overnight event where teens from the district stay overnight at Millstone 4-H Camp to campaign, team-build and elect new District Officers to be installed at 4-H Congress. More details to come.
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Please remember to copy Mrs. Mandy on any emails you send to Lisa.
This simple step helps ensure she stays in the loop regarding ongoing communication and activities involving Lisa,
allowing for better support and coordination.
Thanks for your help with this!
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CONGRATULATIONS to Cora and Lainey Smith! They both placed second in their class at the NC State Fair Turkey Show!
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New 4-H Clubs at Oakboro Choice STEM
We are happy to announce the kickoff of our newest 4-H Club - the Oakboro Choice STEM Gardening 4-H Club. This club is our first in-school club in many years, and will be lead by Mr. Jeremy Efird. Oakboro Choice STEM is also in the process of developing a Beekeeping 4-H Club. In-school clubs are open to students who attend the school. We look forward to growing these clubs as models for schools across the county.
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Rocky River Riders's 4-H Club
Fall Fun Horse Show
What an amazing event! Riders and watchers alike enjoyed a fun time on October 25th at our first-ever 4-H Horse Show. Special thanks to West Stanly Saddle Club for hosting the event and Rocky River Riders members, leaders Kathryn Nelson and Miranda Stroupe and families who all pitched in to make it happen. We would also like to thank our District 4-H President, Kylee Greene who came out and helped run the concession stand! Attendees enjoyed games, food truck, face painting, beautiful horses, skilled riders and FUN. All the hard work paid off, and a great time was had by all.
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Sunny Oaks Farm 4-H Club
Harvesting Sweet Potatoes and Giving Thanks
The Sunny Oaks 4-H Club gathered in October for an exciting hands-on meeting as members harvested the sweet potatoes they planted back in May. With shovels in hand and big smiles on their faces, the 4-Hers spent the afternoon digging for their “buried treasures” and learning more about North Carolina’s favorite root vegetable.
We were delighted to welcome Mr. Doug Vernon from the NC State Research Campus, who joined us to guide the harvest and share his expertise on sweet potatoes. Members learned how sweet potatoes grow, why they thrive in North Carolina, and how they are an important agricultural crop across our state. Mr. Vernon’s knowledge and enthusiasm helped make the day both educational and fun!
Our next meeting will be Wednesday, November 19 at 6:00 PM at Sunny Oaks Farm, where we will continue celebrating this special crop. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, members will explore delicious ways to enjoy sweet potatoes by making and tasting a variety of recipes.
The Sunny Oaks 4-H Club is grateful for the opportunity to learn, grow, and share experiences together—and we can’t wait to cook up something sweet at our next gathering!
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Stanly County Rabbit Rangers
🐰 Our October meeting was a huge success! We dove deep into the process of weaning young rabbits, learning best practices and seeing the difference between 4-week-old and 7-week-old kits up close. It was a wonderful opportunity for hands-on learning.
November Meeting: Design Our Christmas Float! 🥕🎄
It's time to get festive! Our November meeting will be a hands-on planning session for the Stanly County Rabbit Rangers Christmas Parade Float! We need all hands on deck to brainstorm, design, and plan how we'll represent our club this holiday season. Don't miss out!
Date: Monday, November 20th
Location: Stanly Community College - Snyder Building
Action Item: Start thinking of your best rabbit-themed float ideas!
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Rocky River Riders 2025 Meeting Schedule
Is your 4-H'er interested in horses?? All horse-loving 4-H'ers should consider joining the Rocky River Riders Club. Club members will be competing in the 4-H Horse Bowl on January 25 and will host a Horse Bowl Practice on January 3. Rocky River Riders club typically meets the 2nd Friday of each month at 6pm, and will host all 2025 meetings at a new meeting location - West Stanly Saddle Club located at 13154 Saddle Club Rd in Oakboro. The 2025 meeting schedule is listed below:
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🍀 Help the Right Person Find Us! 🍀
Do you know someone with time to invest in expanding our reach across the county? We're searching for a Community Outreach Volunteer—a key person to help us share the life-changing, no-cost opportunities Stanly 4-H offers local youth.
The perfect volunteer has time to invest, is passionate about connecting with people and excited to help more families learn about 4-H. We will provide all the necessary training.
We are certain the right person is out there and need your help putting us in contact with them.
Call or email Mandy Smith-Thompson at 704.983.3987 or
smith-thompson@ncsu.edu.
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4-H Volunteer Leadership Series
We are excited to share a series of wonderful learning opportunities for any adults working with 4-H youth. The following trainings will be held from 6:30PM-7:30PM virtually via Zoom and in-person at Lee County 4-H Office.
Register at 4Honline.com
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Join a 4-H Club!
In just 2 years' time, Stanly 4-H has grown from 1 club to 4 with one on the way! Any 4-H member is welcome to join any of these clubs - you can even participate in multiple clubs!
- Sunny Oaks Farm Club: Sunny Oaks Farm club will meet at 6:00 PM on August 20 at Sunny Oaks Farm in Albemarle. Follow their Facebook page to learn about upcoming meetings.
- Rocky River Riders Club: Meets the second Friday of each month at 6 p.m. at West Stanly Saddle Club. See full 2025 meeting schedule below.
- Stanly County Rabbit Rangers Club: Meets the last Wednesday of each month at 5:30pm. The April meeting will take place at Stanly Community College.
- General Interest Club: Meets the first Thursday of each month at 5PM at the Stanly Agri-Civic Center
Contact our office or click here to learn more about Stanly 4-H Clubs.
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