4-H marks 50 years at camp

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

Raised in the Barren Springs area of Wythe County, Cathy Sutphin said she likely wouldn’t have gone to college had it not been for 4-H.
“4-H enabled me to see the world outside of Barren Springs,” she said.
Sutphin, now the associate director of 4-H in Virginia was munching on a barbecue sandwich in the Burley Dining Hall on Saturday as hundreds turned out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Southwest Virginia 4-H Educational Center on Hillman Highway with an auction, music, tours and storytelling.
Saturday also marked the groundbreaking for the construction of a new housing unit for boys.
For the past 50 years, male campers slept in quarters built in1885. The bunkhouse was originally part of the Washington County Poor Farm, a farm for the poor and elderly who had nowhere else to go.
The son of tenant farmers in Hayters Gap, Delegate Joe Johnson said he remembers driving down Hillman Highway on Saturday mornings on his way to Abingdon to sell butter and eggs.
“I can remember when it was a poor farm,” Johnson said of the property where the 4-H Center sits today. “They’d wave as we drove by.”
The poor farm was shut down in 1943 and in 1957 the Washington County Board of Supervisors donated the 50-acre track of land to the nonprofit Southwest Virginia 4-H Educational Center. Each of the counties in Southwest Virginia became part owners of the property.
In 1960, the Center taught farming, swimming, cooking and handicraft classes to youth. The idea was that if the children were taught agriculture and life skills they would pass it on to their parents.
The camp’s first director, Curtis Addison, said “It teaches the kids to take care of themselves.”
The camp cost about $7 a week when it opened and served about 200 kids at a time. The cost today is between $130 and $150 for the four-day camp.
Former staffer and 4-H agent Fred Herndon said, “If you grew up in Southwest Virginia in a small rural community you don’t have the fringe benefits that Abingdon might have. You only had the churches and kids would play kick-the-can. The 4-H camp gave youngsters an opportunity to leave that environment for a week and see the rest of the world and get a look at the rest of the world. It teaches youngsters life skills, how to get along with people and to become a reputable citizen. It gave me the opportunity to develop as an educator.”
In 1968, the center branched out and started offering classes in things like computers and public speaking.
Current director Samantha Fisher said, “We try to compliment what the students are learning in school.”
She said the camp now serves about 2,000 youth from all over Southwest Virginia.
In the state, Sutphin said there are 150,000 4-Hers, 120 volunteers and six centers. The centers not only provide youth camps during the summer but also adult-learning opportunities throughout the year.
The mission, she said, is for the centers to develop young people and the adults working with them into productive members of society.
“If you had an interest there was an opportunity for you to learn more about it and you could make a mistake because it is a safe environment,” Sutphin said.
She said campers can choose to do anything from showing cattle to learning about robotics.
Former camper and interim program director Kevin Williams said the camp provides a space for the kids to be themselves.
“Here everyone is on the same level,” he said. “Unlike in school where there are cliques; here we don’t know their backgrounds. A lot of kids come and it’s the only time they’ve been away from home so we go all out to make it special for each of them.”
Johnson said he was thrilled to be there for the camp’s 50th anniversary Saturday.
“4-H offers an opportunity for young people to develop life character and leads them to become law abiding citizens,” he said. “It’s great when young people can get together and exchange ideas.”
To contact Caitlin Sullivan e-mail csullivan@wythenews.com or call (276) 628-7101.