County Seat Newspaper
of Clare County

Clare County Farm Bureau Partners with Local Schools and Libraries, to Provide Resources

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Clare County Farm Bureau’s mission is to, "Represent agriculture by providing information to all citizens about the importance of agriculture to Clare County." Our County Farm Bureau continually looks for ways to give back to our communities, while educating and informing about the many areas of agriculture.  One of the ways this is happening is through the donation of book barns and agriculturally accurate children’s books to our local libraries and schools.  The book barn project began with the vision of Erica Schunk and a goal set by the County Farm Bureau Executive Board over a year ago, but as many things, the project was delayed due to COVID…  Ultimately, the book barn project provided the opportunity for many to be involved.

Clare County is fortunate to have strong Industrial Technology programs in all of our schools.  In these courses’ students have the opportunity to work with their hands and minds, using tools and materials, to apply concepts of math, science, and engineering, to develop an end product.  The book barn project was an opportunity for students to participate in a service-learning project using their skills and talents to provide for others.  The Clare Gladwin Construction Trades Program donated the fiber board sheets for the project.  Clare County Farm Bureau, provided the plans, other construction materials, paint, and supplies. Students in the Industrial Technology courses at Clare and Harrison High Schools applied their talents to construct and paint the barns.   Books for the barns, were donated to the libraries through the support of our 2021 Annual Sponsors (in alphabetical order):  Benchley Bros., Inc., Capital Equipment, Clare Automotive, Inc., Coyne Oil, GreenStone Farm Credit, Harrison Lumber, McConnell’s Farm Supply, and Michael Leary Agency Farm Bureau Insurance.  Finally, Clare County Farm Bureau Members distributed the barns to their destination.

Moving forward we have more work to do.  The project undertaken this spring, placed a book barn at the Pere Marquette Library, a pre-school classroom at Mid-Michigan Community Action Agency, and Harrison District Library.  The Clare High School Industrial Technology program is completing an additional barn for their primary school library.  In addition, Clare County Farm Bureau hopes to collaborate with the Industrial Technology classes at Farwell High School, to construct a book barn for the Surrey Township Public Library. Each of the barns have been donated with a starter set of agriculturally accurate children’s books, and we are hopeful that Clare County Farm Bureau and the Clare-Gladwin FFA Chapter will be able to add to the collection of books eventually filling the shelves of each barn.

It is our sincere hope that these barns will serve as a resource to help educate and spark the interest of children, in the area of agriculture, for years to come!

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