Departmental News

UW Collegiate 4-H Club, Wyoming AgrAbility Program team to help producer           

            Five UW Collegiate 4-H Club members and two members of the Wyoming AgrAbility Program last Saturday completed a lean-to for horses and finished other projects for a client west of Cheyenne unable to complete the work on her own.

            The team also repaired a cover built over a dog kennel to alleviate snow accumulation, replaced a filter in a well and painted a living room ceiling, said Amanda O’Brien, project coordinator for Wyoming AgrAbility.

            The Wyoming AgrAbility Project seeks to help the more than 4,000 estimated Wyoming farm and ranch members who may have a disability, said Professor Randy Weigel. Weigel is a UW Cooperative Extension Service human development specialist in the College of Agriculture’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences and is the AgrAbility project director.

            “The purpose of the Wyoming AgrAbility project is to promote success in agriculture for people with disabilities and their families,” said O’Brien. “Most of the time, this may mean making recommendations on assistive technology or machinery retrofitting. In this case, it required a helping hand. I solicited help from University of Wyoming groups, and the UW Collegiate 4-Hers stepped forward.”

            Joining O’Brien and Weigel were Collegiate 4-H Club President Amanda Phillips Kyle and husband, Travis Kyle, Yampa, Colorado,  Krista Amos, Cope, Colorado, Derek Hensley, Gillette, and Troy Siddle, Sheridan.

            “4-H doesn’t stop when students go to college,” said Kyle. “Collegiate 4-H offers a variety of leadership and community service opportunities. Since that Saturday was national “Make a Difference Day,” we thought it would be a natural to help in this service activity.”

            The projects completed were all difficult tasks for a person with mobility impairment, said O’Brien. “Without the help of the UW Collegiate 4-H Club, it could not have been accomplished.”

            For more information about ranching and farming with mobility impairments, or to learn how the Wyoming AgrAbility Project can help you or someone you know who is experiencing a disability, contact Wyoming AgrAbility at (866) 395-4986,  agrability@uwyo.edu, or visit www.uwyo.edu/agrability.

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