November 2, 2006

ValleyViewpoints

4-H Animal Market project can spread cheer, change lives

Editor,
My name is Alisha Lombardi, I am 17 years old and I live is San Jose, CA.. I have been a member of Pleasant Acres 4-H since I was 11 years old. 4-H offers many great projects like sewing, computers and cooking. I have chosen to do a bit of a different project in 4-H, I raise market animals for the fair. It may seem like a strange project for someone who lives in the city but I am lucky enough to be able to keep my animals at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. I have raised many pigs, one lamb, and 4 steers.

Alisha Lombardi poses with friends and family at the Santa Clara County Fair in a stall with her steer.

Even though it is the hardest, my favorite animal to raise is a steer. I usually get my steer in October and keep it until the fair in August. That is about 10 months of hard work. Unlike pigs and lambs that you usually only keep for about 3 months. I am up early every morning for the 10 months to feed and rinse my steer and clean his pen. Then I am back every afternoon to walk, rinse and feed again. I don't have very much more time for anything else. It doesn't matter if it is a weekend or holiday or if I want to have other plans, I still always have the responsibility of my steer. So, as you can see it is a big commitment and a very time consuming project.

Along with the daily routine of care, there is also the financial end of the project. A steer is a very expensive project. You not only buy a steer, but it will cost approximately $100 per month to feed it. I have always earned my money or saved it from previous years to fund my project. But this is very hard to do because not many people show up to the yearly Santa Clara County Fair Auction. Another set back is that most people and companies would rather buy animals that are less expensive than a steer like a pig or a lamb. So, many times that leaves those of us who have worked for 10 months on a project without buyers or with buyers that bid so low that we actually lose most of the money we have put into our project. Last year at the 2005 county fair I won Supreme Champion steer but because I did not have a buyer, I lost almost half of my investment.

But this year was very different. This year I was luck enough to meet Aimee Brown the district trainer from Safeway. I had written a letter to Safeway and had a meeting with Aimee about a month before the county fair. She seemed very interested and said that she would be there to bid on my steer for Safeway.

On August 6,2006 (auction morning) not only did Aimee Brown show up but she brought with her store managers Darren Johst, Linda Miranda, Chris Cancilla, and Assistant Manager Mary Wade. It was so exciting to see so many people show up. Some of them even brought their children. It was a lot of fun letting them all meet my steer.

The kids all gave him lots of attention (which he really loved). I got to tell them all about my project and we took lots of pictures.

I can not tell you how much it meant to me for them to be there. Aimee Brown, Darren Johst, Linda Miranda, Chris Cancilla, and Mary Wade all showed up on a Sunday morning and sat for more than 4 hours waiting for 122 animals to be auctioned so they could bid on my steer. I can not thank them enough for their patience and generosity. For the first time, thanks to Safeway and these 5 employees, I truly felt I had support from my community.

I hope you will run this story not only to thank them and to show our community their support but also to encourage other companies to join them. 4-H is a great organization and the animal market project changes the lives of many kids teaching them many life skills that will benefit both their lives and those around them.

There are many other 4-H members like me who are out there working hard for 10 months out of the year on these projects. Please join Safeway and show them you support them.

Alisha Lombardi
Almaden Valley

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