4-Hers distribute baskets full of thanks

There’s no question that summer is usually a 4-H'er’s time to shine, but that doesn’t mean they’re idle during the winter months.

The Lemond Snappy Boosters proved that last week with the delivery of seven snack baskets to area first responders – including snow plow crews. The baskets were delivered Jan. 12, the day after they were created.

The club leaders meet before the year – which essentially follows the school year – to brainstorm ideas for service projects, said Brooke Resler, one of the leaders.

They landed on the idea of fruit baskets for “the community helpers in Steele County,” she said, shored up with non-perishable snacks for the responders.

Including fire departments, law enforcement, ambulance services and snow plow crews, there were 14 locations that qualified as a first responder group.

While all were more than receptive to the idea, the group collected enough supplies to build and donate seven baskets.

Each group received a card, signed by the members of the club.

“It’s really fun seeing the parents and the kids step up, because it’s not just the kids,” Resler said.

A parent of one of the Snappy Boosters is an employee of Hormel Foods, and was able to get pepperoni sticks to add to the granola bars and other snacks “so they can just grab and go,” she said.

The club does at least one service project every year and does a lot of volunteering throughout the communities.

There are about 60 members of the Lemond Snappy Boosters; about 40 gathered at Pontoppidan Lutheran Church near Ellendale to put together the snack baskets.

Resler and her husband Bryan were both in 4-H; all four of their children are also members.

Club members come from across the county through an open enrollment, of sorts. New potential members can select the club they’d like to join.

“That’s why I think our club is getting bigger,” Brooke Resler said, “because they bring their friends in. It’s all about bringing in other families.”

Demitri Bauer, an eighth-grader at Owatonna Middle School, is the club president.

He described the first responder baskets as “helping the people who protect us, save us, help us,” and said the group often does another service project as summer approaches.

“I think it’s nice just showing any gratitude, really,” said Joe Resler, a sophomore at Owatonna Christian School. “This isn’t as big as what they do for us, but it’s at least something we can do as a big group, and it’s not complicated.”

The club also makes cards for nursing home residents, he said.

For Demitri, 4-H “gives me a sense of leadership, and honestly, it’s a fun place to be. There’s nice people here.”

He assumed the role of club president in October and will step down in fall of 2026. That’s when Joe, currently the vice-president of the club, will become president.

Demitri does general 4-H projects to display at the Steele County Free Fair and earned a trip to the Minnesota State Fair last summer.

“I’m a big cook, so I made a miso soup,” which earned him a grand champion ribbon locally, and a trip to the State Fair.

Joe shows goats, specifically, sables.

The breed is growing in popularity, he said, “and a lot of families that we’re competing against now at the county and the state fair are actually people who bought from us and from the people we buy from.”