Haylee is a Junior at Eagleville High School. She is involved in giving back in many facets of her life.
Her involvement in Rutherford Co. 4-H is synonymous with service. For the past two years, she has served as the 4-H Honor Club Service Chair. With this role, she introduces, coordinates and participates in monthly service projects to assist those in Rutherford Co, our state and even internationally. This past year after a tour of the Juvenile Justice Center, Judge Donna Scott Davenport shared the need for stuffed animals as a comfort for those appearing in Juvenile Court along with specific clothing needs. Seeing this as a community need that 4-H could address, Haylee organized a gently used stuffed toy drive and also requested gently used long sleeve shirts for young men and women and belts. Text message reminders were sent to encourage donors and again highlighted the need. The Juvenile Court was presented with over 100 stuffed animals and clothing items to assist in this effort.
Coming up on December 6, Haylee has coordinated youth volunteers to assist with serving breakfast at the Nashville Rescue Mission. This is part of a bigger project addressing food insecurity in our community and state. To better understand what food insecurity is, a group will serve breakfast to 700 at the Mission from 5:30-7:30 a.m. This project is coordinated around the holiday season to address food insecurity. Other components of the food insecurity project include – 1. Bringing awareness to the local Eagleville Food Pantry, more items are needed during the holiday season. Haylee has coordinated the canned food drive with the local FFA and Beta chapters to aid the pantry. 2. Organizing volunteers and planning school garden activities to again address food insecurity. Haylee has served as the youth garden coordinator at her school and now the group plans to share fresh greens (kale and lettuce) in the spring with the local food pantry. Access to fresh food is a major point to address with the food insecurity issue.
Internationally, the Soul Hope denim shoe project to aid those in Uganda is one that Haylee has learned about and organized locally. She first saw the video about those in Uganda affected by insect infestation and the need for the shoes at a regional (30 county) 4-H retreat. Many pieces of denim were cut, and Haylee brought back the patterns and organized a local project as well. At the Oct. Rutherford Co. 4-H open house, the over 300 attending assisted in cutting, organizing and learned the need for denim for shoes.
Agriculture Education is another major area of community service. In July 2019, Haylee assisted in presenting healthy beef information along with beef by products (other items we get from cows, other than just beef) to Boys and Girls Club members. Holding a heifer by the halter, she shared what a cow eats, how people can’t eat grass and how cows convert this to healthy protein for us. Her message that livestock owners take care of their animals was another part of the program.
Feed My Starving Children visited Murfreesboro in Nov. 2018. Haylee organized and participated with a group of youth to assist in packing 26,000 meals in a period of two hours.
These are only a few examples of projects Haylee has organized and participated in. Haylee will receive a certificate from Volunteer Rutherford and a $25 Amazon Gift Card courtesy of Guaranty Home Mortgage Corporation.
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