Doughty Valley 4-H club to honor Deborah Schafer
Doughty Valley 4-H club advisor Marcia Troyer presents Jim Schafer with a plaque in honor of Deb Schafer, who passed away this fall. Deb Schafer was a longtime supporter of 4-H, and in her honor, the club will host a free dinner in Clark on Sunday, Nov. 10 at noon.
Doughty Valley 4-H club will present a free public meal at the community center in Clark on Nov. 10 at noon to celebrate the life of friend and 4-H advocate Deborah Schafer, who passed away earlier this fall.
The meal has always been used as a way for the club to spread the word about what it has done throughout the year and has oftentimes celebrated local veterans for Veterans Day, but this time they will honor Schafer, who was honored at the annual 4-H volunteer banquet as a 25-year advisor with the club.
In the banquet’s presentation of the evening, 4-H committee banquet chair Marcia Troyer gave a message honoring her friend and long-time 4-H adviser.
Troyer said of Schafer, “She was a true friend and very dedicated to leading these kids.”
Troyer said Schafer was very involved with the llama and alpaca projects in 4-H. Schafer actually joined the Doughty Valley 4-H club as a 4-Her at the age of 10 in 1959, holding the positions of news reporter and secretary during that time.
Troyer said she and Schafer became good friends as youngsters and had their fair share of ornery moments growing up, although she said they never got into trouble.
“She was a blessing to me and a blessing to the 4-H program,” Troyer said. “Deb was so giving and caring, and helping these kids was something she cherished a lot. She was one of those people who was always thinking about others, and she set a wonderful example for the kids on how to be kind and caring to everyone.”
The Doughty Valley 4-H club meal is free to the community, and the 4-H kids make and serve all of the food for the evening.
“It’s actually kind of nice because we have a lot of elderly people, especially in the Clark community, and they help make the food and take it to them,” Troyer said. “Then they all pitch in afterward to clean up, so the 4-Hers really do pretty much all of the work during the night.”
In addition to the meal, the 4-Hers will provide a presentation to inform those in attendance of everything the club has done this year and what future plans include.
“It’s important for our community members to recognize everything that these kids have done throughout the year,” Troyer said. “This is close to our 15th year of doing this. Last year we did it right around Veterans Day, so we honored our veterans, and this year we will honor Deb and her family.”