Anoka County 4-H clubs provide community and connection

Cheerful Chuggers 4-H Club

The Cheerful Chuggers 4-H Club conducts an official meeting once a month and is dedicated to providing children with hands-on learning, a place to develop strong friendships and relationships within our community and to grow as a person with increased self-esteem. We work as a team on various community service projects and make a difference with volunteering and providing support in our local community. Our Club Officers, who are youth in 6^th grade and up, lead each monthly meeting and assist younger youth with the monthly themed activity.

Monthly activities are on various subjects to introduce and inspire a new project area, future leadership and hands-on learning. Our meetings are designed to involve youth in long-term, structured programs and assist with physical, cognitive, social and emotional needs. We encourage every youth to conduct one demo on any subject area in front of our club. This allows them to share with others on what they are passionate about and to become more comfortable talking in front of others.

As a group, we volunteer at two county events each year and participate in a winter fun event, summer fun event and club fundraiser. The favorite activity for the year is presenting a project at the Anoka County Fair. Members can demonstrate their knowledge in their project area and a judge will listen, ask questions, provide feedback and award a ribbon. There are many opportunities within our club for youth to develop an assortment of skills, build lasting relationships and learn about the world in which they live.

Meetings: 4th Monday/month, 6:30 p.m.
Location: Ramsey Municipal Center, Alexander Ramsey Room, 7550 Sunwood Dr NW, Ramsey, MN 55303
Contact: Carmen Kastner, 763-898-7423, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Carmen Kastner, Megen Ealain (Not pictured)

Cloverleaf 4-H Club

Hi, welcome to 4-H. The Cloverleaf 4-H Club is led by our awesome youth leaders and supported by a team of adult leaders. Our club membership consists of a variety of ages from K-1 year post high school. Our Cloverbud leaders plan a Cloverbud activity at each meeting. We are planning youth led project areas at our meetings. Our club members are involved in a variety of projects, including poultry, rabbits, shooting sports/wildlife management, clothing, foods, crafts and fine arts, photography, and youth leadership. We aim for a winter and spring social that are potluck meetings.

Each year we do a variety of youth leadership and community service activities. We typically do Club Olympics, Club Camp and a Share The Fun Skit . We have many members who participate in the Communications Arts Contest, Public Presentation Day, Arts-In and more. Our leaders are very involved in county and statewide projects as well. E-mail us and we will be happy to connect with you.

Meetings: 2nd Thursday/month, 7 p.m.
Location: Oak Grove City Hall, 19900 Nightingale St NW, Oak Grove, MN 55011
Contact: Dayna Francis, 763-571-1195, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Dayna Francis, Elizabeth Myers and Janet Sahlstrom

Dandy Linos 4-H Club

We are the Dandy Linos 4-H club. Our members range in age from early elementary through post high school. We meet on the 2nd Thursday of each month in Andover. At our monthly meetings, we review projects and activities that members have been involved in as well as plan for upcoming events. Each meeting is concluded with a demonstration provided by one of our members in a project area of their interest. 

We have a strong youth leader group and each member takes responsibility for planning one service project or club activity per year. Service projects that we are involved in include collecting a Thanksgiving basket for needy families, caroling at a local senior townhome complex, collecting trash for Earth Day, baking cookies and making cards for soldiers. Many of our members are active in the horse project and we meet twice weekly during the warm weather season for horse riding, but our members are involved in many other project areas as well, including dog training, clothing, performing arts, poultry, small pet, crafts and fine arts, photography, foods and shooting sports.

We spend one weekend at Camp Salie, generally in the spring, and camp together as a club at a horse camp once in the fall. We also participate in the Blue Heron Days parade. Our youth and adult volunteers are involved in various county level committees. We welcome new members and invite you to contact us through phone or e-mail to learn more about us.

Meetings: 2nd Thursday/month, 6:30 p.m.
Location: Bunker Hills Activities Center, 550 Bunker Lake Blvd NW, Andover, MN 55304
Contact: Micaela Smith, 651-707-3312, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Micaela Smith, Charity Morrow

Lamplighters 4-H Club

Welcome to 4-H! Lamplighters club has been around over 50 years! We meet the 1st Sunday of every month September to June at the Bunker Hills Activities Center in Andover at 3 p.m. We are still active in July and August promoting 4-H and our club. Currently, a large population of our club is elementary/middle school aged, but all ages are welcome to join! In 4-H, we encourage parents and children to participate at meetings.

Our meetings consist of review of projects/activities that members have been involved in as well as plan for upcoming events. We include demonstrations and conclude with a recreation of some sort (getting the kids to interact). Some of the activities we do as a club throughout the year are snow tubing, bowling, highway clean up, Coon Creek clean up, donate blankets to Anoka County Child Protection and Feed My Starving Children. Our group has a variety of interests and skills. We are welcoming new members! You can contact us by phone or e-mail if interested.

Meetings: 1st Sunday/month, 3 p.m.
Location: Bunker Hills Activities Center, 550 Bunker Lake Blvd NW, Andover, MN 55304
Contact: Inna Potapenko, 763-898-7398 (text/call), [email protected] 

Club Leaders: Laura Maertens and Inna Potapenko

Lino Lakers 4-H Club

Welcome to 4-H! Christy Joyer is the Leader of the Lino Lakers 4-H club. We typically meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month at St. Joseph of the Lakes in Lino Lakes at 7 p.m. Our meetings consist of a game, song, or activity to start the night, updates on the programs available, demonstrations done by 4-H members, and of course a snack! During the business portion of the meeting, the Cloverbuds (K-2nd grade) break off from the group and do their own set of activities (games, craft projects, etc.). Our meetings are typically an hour with a snack after.

The Lino Lakers are active in community service. We have a fundraiser at Waldoch Farm in July pulling weeds which allows us to buy supplies to make fleece blankets for the children in the Anoka County Foster Care program and bake cookies for the community during the holiday season. For fun each year we enjoy Family Camp at Camp Salie which is a wonderful opportunity to get to know Camp Salie and each other. We also typically schedule an outing to Wargo Nature Center to have outdoor fun and learning.

As a club, we participate in county-wide programs such as Club Olympics and Share The Fun. Individually our members are active in a variety of projects and take part in a multitude of county and state events. We are happy to answer any questions you may have!

Meetings: 2nd Thursday/month, 7 p.m.
Location: St. Joseph of the Lakes, 171 Elm St, Lino Lakes, MN 55014
Contact: Christy Joyer, 612-750-0252, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Christy Joyer and Patty Hughes (not pictured)

Loganberries 4-H Club

We are the Loganberries 4-H Club. We meet on the second Sunday of the month from 1:30 - 3 p.m. at the Church of St. William in Fridley. We have a variety of ages in our club and draw members from as far as Maple Grove! Our meetings are led by families and youth leaders. We also host social events, as well as participate in county wide events such as Share The Fun. Every year, all 4-H’ers have a chance to give input as to our focus for each meeting and to choose some of our events. We have some volunteers who lead project meetings for members as well.

Meetings: 2nd Sunday/month, 1:30 p.m.
Location: Church of St. William, 6120 5th St NE, Fridley, MN 55432
Contact: Jennifer Yocum, 763-571-2517, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Anne Stevenson and Jennifer Yocum

Rapid Rascals 4-H Club

The Rapid Rascals have been a 4-H Club for over 30 years. We have members in all age groups, Kindergarten through high school with the majority of our members being elementary and middle school age. Some activities we participate in are Share The Fun, County Arts-In, County Fair and Dog Training along with many others. Some project areas we have members in are dog, clothing, shooting sports and rabbits to name a few.

Meetings: One Sunday/month, 3 p.m.
Location: Bunker Hills Activities Center, 550 Bunker Lake Blvd NW, Andover, MN 55304
Contact: Brienna Duax, 612-747-3009, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Brienna Duax and Sarah Rickert

River Raiders 4-H Club

The River Raiders 4-H club was formed in the fall of 1986 with the combination of two 4-H clubs, the Anoka Greenhorns and the Two River Rascals. Members range in grades from Kindergarten to one year past high school graduation. We hold monthly meetings during the school year on the second Monday of the month at 6:30 pm at the Coon Rapids Methodist Church. Meetings usually last until about 8 p.m. Summer meetings are held at other locations to work on club projects. There are many additional 4-H activities to get involved in throughout the entire year.

Meetings: 2nd Monday/month, 6:30 p.m.
Location: Coon Rapids United Methodist Church, 10506 Hanson Blvd NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55433
Contact: Sarah Schmidt, 612-280-8610, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Mitch Rivard & Sarah Schmidt

Spunky Spelunkers 4-H Club

The Spunky Spelunkers 4-H Club is led by Karen Strassburg. Meetings start out with a guessing game challenge. Members get the chance to report on any 4-H activities that they have participated in since we last met. We cover upcoming events and plan our club activities. We have an educational activity related to a 4-H project area and end our meeting with social time and snack. Our members are involved in a variety of projects including but not limited to Shooting Sports, Crafts and Fine Arts, Photography, and Foods. Outside of our club meetings, our club plans some activities just for fun and are very active in community service. We are always accepting new members so feel free to check out one of our meetings or contact us for additional information.

Meetings: 1st Tuesday/month, 6:45 p.m.
Location: St. Francis Elementary
Contact: Karen Strassburg, 763-218-2342, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Karen Strassburg, Samuel Strassburg (Not pictured)

Wranglers 4-H Club

The Wranglers 4-H Club is led by Janae & Maria along with many parent volunteers. We meet the 2^nd Tuesday of each month at Bunker Hills Activities Center at 7 p.m. Our members range from Kindergarten to one year post high school. Our club focuses on learning about horses. You do not have to have your own horse to be part of our program. We have an excellent Horseless Horse Program. Our meetings start with the Pledge of Allegiance and 4-H pledge. Our Club Officers, who are youth 6^th grade and older, then lead us through the meeting discussing upcoming events and plan our club activities. We either play a game or do an activity at each meeting and then end our meeting with a snack and some social time.

We participate in the Make a Difference Day by giving back to someone in the community. We put on three Horse Fun Shows a year at the Anoka County Fairgrounds to raise money for our club. Outside of our club we do group activities such as trail riding, open arena, and various field trips. We are always accepting new members so feel free to check out one of our meetings or contact us for additional information.

Meetings: 4th Tuesday/month, 7 p.m.
Location: Bunker Hills Activities Center, 550 Bunker Lake Blvd NW, Andover, MN 55304
Contact: Janae Engh, 218-316-1855, [email protected]

Club Leaders: Janae Engh, Maria Lewis