Rebecca Susag grew up showing Shetland ponies at the Dakota County Fair. Like so many, the next chapter of her 4-H story began with her first child and one animal.
Her oldest daughter, Marta, has autism — and when she met a friend’s rabbits, something just clicked.
“That is how Hoppy the Minilop came into the family!” Rebecca says. “We wanted to get into 4-H because we knew that it was something she could do — and a place she could belong.”
Marta didn’t speak much, but with her mom at her side in the show ring, she was included. When a judge came by, Rebecca would explain that she’d be standing alongside her daughter.
“Dakota County, and 4-H in general, has always been very inclusive of kids with disabilities,” Rebecca says.
She saw this value in action over and over in her years as a club leader and in the poultry barn she and her late husband Steve ran during the Dakota County Fair: a young 4-H'er with cerebral palsy who used a communication device, and a girl in a wheelchair whose 4-H family built a special rig so she could lead her lamb herself.
“People really welcomed all of us. That was one of the reasons we enjoyed 4-H so much. We have made lifelong friends.”
As a speech pathologist, Rebecca shared that discovery, routinely recommending 4-H to families of kids with autism, or kids who simply “don’t fit the mold.” She credits 4-H’s parent-intensive culture for ensuring no one got dropped off at the edge of the experience. Whole families could take part.
Her own barnyard grew from Hoppy to more rabbits, geese, ducks, turkeys, chickens, Shetland sheep and a Saint Bernard. And all three Susag kids — Marta, Peder and Esther — showing animals at the Dakota County Fair and taking multiple trips to the Minnesota State Fair.
When Rebecca saw the plans for the renovated 4-H Building, she recognized the spirit of inclusion she’d experienced in 4-H, finally built into the building itself. The new dormitories will be set up for young people with sensory needs.
It’s a detail most fairgoers will never see, but for families like hers, it changes who can say yes to the full 4-H Building experience.
“This is something I need to do,” she said to herself when the campaign email arrived.
“We took everybody,” Rebecca says. “It was a way to build community, which we sorely need in this day and age.”
Thanks to donors like Rebecca, the renovated 4-H Building will open in summer 2027 as a showcase of what 4-H is — a place where every young person belongs.
Join Rebecca in supporting the 4-H Building campaign
To join Rebecca in supporting the 4-H Building renovation, visit or contact [email protected] for more information.
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