"Share And Care" Program Captures The Imagination Of Young 4-H’ers

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In 1951 the Chevy Chase Junior College in Chevy Chase, Maryland, sold the college property to the National 4-H Foundation for $376,356.03 including most of the necessary furnishings and equipment. The property was to become the future home of the National 4-H Center. On Valentine's Day of that year the Foundation dedicated the campus to the service of 4-H but held the keys for less than half an hour. The nation was gearing up for the Korean conflict and the Defense Department, as arranged, asked to lease the buildings for an Operations Research Office operated by Johns Hopkins University. The Defense Department held the property until near the end of the decade. The Army leased the property from the 4-H Foundation for $43,000 a year. The lease receipts constituted a major portion of the mortgage payments.

During this period, the National 4-H Foundation set out to raise the rest of the funds to pay off the mortgage and then, once 4-H could occupy the property, to renovate the buildings, add more dormitory space and landscape the campus. In what was called the "Share and Care" program, 4-H'ers were asked to contribute 10 cents per member. Each local club that contributed at least 10 cents per member with a $1.00 minimum would be listed as an associate founder and would be eligible for a modified copy of the Founder's Scroll. In a short period of time, 4-H raised $250,000... mostly 10 cents at a time from young boys and girls. Impressed with this interest and commitment from the grassroots level, the Ford Foundation and the Danforth Foundation then gave significant private contributions, as well. The royalties from the sale of national 4-H calendars also contributed to purchasing the Center. Opportunities to name rooms at the Center and to establish memorials were also offered to the states and others. But it was the dimes from the girls and boys that made this campaign so special. The new National 4-H Center had suddenly become "their" 4-H Center and their 10 cents was important in helped the cause and reaching the goal.