Tayler Black, 24, of Fergus recently won the Gay Lea Outstanding New Club Leader Award for 4-H Ontario.
The award recognizes volunteers who have been 4-H leaders for less than three years but are doing amazing things for youths in their clubs.
“I was pretty surprised actually,” Black said.
“It was quite the honour just to be there. There were a lot of leaders not only in Ontario but in the district where I was chosen, so very surprised and very honoured.”
Black is a volunteer with both the Wellington and Waterloo 4-H Associations. He was part of 4-H for 12 years before he became a leader about three years ago.
“I got so much out of 4-H as a member for those 12 years I was in it and so not only did I want to give back to the organization and to the members in my community, but also I wanted to stay involved,” he said.
“I wanted to continue to be part of that organization and continue to learn.”
Black, a leader of several clubs, also helps recruit members for the clubs and takes on tasks to help distribute responsibilities, officials state.
Black was one of the chief cooks at the grilled cheese sandwich booth at the Canadian Dairy XPO for the past three years – a fundraiser for a number of 4-H Clubs.
He was on the 4-H Ontario Conference and AGM committee for 2017 and recently joined the Wellington 4-H board of directors.
“He takes an active role at judging nights and organized a club fundraiser for the Damascus 4-H Club,” organizers state.
“Tayler’s patience makes him great with youth and he’s truly a team leader,”
The award was announced recently at the 4-H Ontario Career Mania Conference held at the University of Guelph, where Black was volunteering as a facilitator.
He said the formal awards ceremony will take place this coming fall.
To learn more about the award visit www.4-hontario.ca.
