One of Mahoning County 4-H’s newest clubs may not have representation at the Mahoning County Junior Fair, choosing instead to do small projects that were judged in midsummer.

Others are looking toward next year’s fair.

“We had 10 members participate in the virtual judging and received county ribbons,” said 3Ds advisor Shirley Kellgreen. “The Cloverbuds that participated in virtual public speaking and Cloverbud show-n-tell were rewarded with ribbons.”

She said some of the members were not comfortable with virtual judging, so they made the choice to continue their project and submit it for 2021.

The 3Ds 4-H Club was formed three years ago. The members chose the name 3Ds — Dedication, Determination, and Duty. The club has 16 members and seven Cloverbuds, the younger kids who are just getting use to 4-H. Ages of members range from 5 to high school seniors. The members come from all over the area including Columbiana, Leetonia, Struthers, Greenford, North Lima, and Boardman.

Kellgreen’s club did have the advantage of having four meetings before COVID-19 forced the stay-at-home order.

“Most of the members had their books and were working on their projects,” Kellgreen said. “We had new members that we wanted to get to know during the year and our club would typically meet twice a month. The hardest thing with not being able to meet was that I missed the kids. I would send text messages to keep everyone aware of special deadlines. I tried to encourage them to keep working on projects when they had time.”

She said the club’s community service projects had come to a halt since the kids could no longer meet in person, but club advisors came up with a better idea.

“We could not do community service the same as previous years,” Kellgreen said, “but I encouraged them to do small individual deeds for others. I know members made masks, baked for neighbors, and wrote thank you notes to essential workers.”

Kellgreen said she has been an adviser for the past eight years and has been active in 4-H for many more both as a parent and a youth member. She said this year was a big change for all the advisors and youth, but the three Ds her club was named for is exactly what is needed now.

Since the virus shut down in March, the 3Ds have held three virtual meetings.

“We were able to see each other and do some club business — mostly just discuss upcoming special judging and what plans were looking like for any kind of fair,” Kellgreen said. “Also, after the fair in previous years, the members always voted to meet at least once a month from October through

December. We would do community service projects, do a craft project, or simple cooking projects. We are not sure what we will be able to do this year.”

The members at the last virtual meeting did agree to pick a theme regarding the plan for displaying the projects from this year as well as next year’s at the club’s booth.

“Hopefully in 2021 we can move forward with some kind of new normal,” Kellgreen said.

jtwhitehouse@tribtoday.com