Jim Famini, a longtime director of the 4-H Foundation  who has actively advocated for 4-H while generously donating time and money to secure the youth organization’s important place in Sonoma County, is the 2013 recipient of the Shining Star Award.

The Shining Star Award, given by the 4-H Foundation of Sonoma County, annually recognizes a person who has made significant contributions to the Foundation and 4-H Club work.

It’s difficult to think of 4-H in Sonoma County without thinking of Jim Famini and his unwavering commitment to the organization.

“Of all the youth organizations, 4-H is the very best because it offers educational opportunities in so many aspects of life, from parliamentary procedure to public speaking while fostering citizenship, leadership and community service,’’ said Famini, a Realtor with the Wine Country Group.

Famini has been on the 4-H Foundation’s board of directors since 1994, serving as foundation president for five years. He is a major benefactor at 4-H fund raisers. While an executive at Long’s Drug Stores, he secured $40,000 in corporate grants for the 4-H Foundation. For many years, he served as the countywide 4-H poultry leader.

Famini’s 4-H roots run deep. He was a member of the Gravenstein 4-H Club, completing projects in poultry, rabbits and gardening. He was a 4-H All Star in 1965. His two sons, Dan and Chris, also were outstanding 4-H members and All Stars.

Patrick W. Emery, a Santa Rosa attorney and community leader who has been a staunch supporter of 4-H, FFA and the Sonoma County Fair, is the 2013 recipient of the 4-H Alumni Recognition Award.

The 4-H Alumni Award, presented by the 4-H Foundation of Sonoma County, honors a former 4-H Club member who upholds the values of leadership, citizenship and community service, which are the hallmarks of the 4-H program. Emery, who continues to give back to the community in the 4-H tradition, will be honored at the 4-H Foundation BBQ and “Fun”draiser on Sept. 21 at Richard’s Grove and Saralee’s Vineyard in Windsor.

Emery credits his work ethic and core values to growing up on a 70-acre farm in El Dorado County where he was a member of the Southside Topnotch 4-H Club. He picked fruit on the family farm and as a member of the 4-H raised and showed market steers, lambs and poultry for the county fair.

Emery’s dedication to 4-H and the Sonoma County Fair is part of his extraordinary legacy of community service, which has paralleled a distinguished 36-year legal career following his undergraduate education at Harvard University and a law degree from the University of California, Davis.

Emery was appointed to the Sonoma County Fair board of directors in 1989 and became an honorary fair director in 1997. He continues to take an active role in the fair and the fair’s junior livestock auctions, buying animals raised by 4-H’ers and serving as an announcer at the auction.

Emery donated his legal expertise to file the federal paperwork to establish the 4-H Foundation of Sonoma County as a registered, non-profit charitable organization. He also donated his services to establish the Sonoma County Fair Foundation and serves as president of the Fair Foundation.

Dr. Fred Groverman currently walks with a limp, but many people are amazed that he is walking at all. He was recently hit from behind by a ram that shattered one of his knees.

At 79, Groverman was out of bed and hobbling around as soon as the leg could support weight. That kind of determination and resolve doesn’t surprise people who know the Petaluma native who spent most of his career as a veterinarian in Cotati.

When he was 9, Groverman was milking cows by hand on the family farm. He also was responsible for selling cream, driving the wagon, gathering eggs from the farm’s 8,000 chickens.

He got interested in treating animals when a local vet helped him heal a stubborn cut on his arm using the same compound he had used on the cows a week earlier. After high school he enrolled at UC-Davis.

Three weeks after classes started, his father died unexpectedly. Groverman returned home to tend to the family farm and spent the next year taking classes at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Once back at Davis, he lived in the sheep barn for a year, then moved to the firehouse. For three years he balanced coursework with fire drills, becoming a lieutenant in the process.

Groverman met his wife, Patricia, at UC-Davis and married her in 1957 during his last year in veterinarian school. She passed away last year, after 54 years of marriage.

Although Groverman did not belong to 4-H while growing up, the couple’s four children joined, as have five of their six grandchildren. The lone holdout is only 3.

“I’ve seen what it has done for them,” he said. Daughter Karen now works at the Agricultural Commissioner office in Sacramento County. Son James owns a successful pumpkin patch and corn maze. Daughter Judy is the executive director of the Artisan Cheese Festival and has managed the Santa Rosa Rose Parade for the past 15 years. Son Bill is an appraiser who works with agricultural and commercial properties.

“Because of their success, I am trying to give back,” Groverman said. “I look at my daughter and sons, and I can see how (4-H) leadership has propelled them to be excellent at what they do.”

He started in 1982 with the 4-H foundation, which provides funds for grants, scholarships and promotion, and just finished a four-year term as president.

“His leadership, his vision and his persistence to keeping the program alive is remarkable,” said Executive Director Susan Hansen. “We are so lucky to have his experience and wisdom.”

In the 1970s he started working as an animal solicitor. Each year he asks 60-80 people to let him represent them at the Sonoma County Fair. Using a record of what they paid the year before, he bids on 4-H and FFA animals. With his experience and reputation, they trust him to make the best buy.

“It’s all about the relationship between me and the buyer,” Groverman explained. “If something happens, then I buy the animal.”

Over the past six years, 4-H and FFA have raised more than $1 million a year. “(In) my own kids’ case, they had $8,000 to $12,000 in savings by the time they graduated from high school,” Groverman said.

Since 1976, he also has served as fair veterinarian.

For the past four year, Groverman also has connected with children in the classroom, teaching Veterinary Adventures to fourth, fifth and sixth graders during the summer at Sonoma State University. His granddaughter Megan, 13, took the class and now acts as an unpaid intern.

He leads field trips to his ranch, with the primary goal of teaching the kids about animals.

“I also focus on leadership because that seems to be something really lacking in this world,” he said. Groverman’s newest goal is increasing the amount of diversity in the 4-H program. “You learn from your experiences,” he said. “That is how kids can be successful … from these life skills they learn and observe,” he said.

Even after a lifetime of service, Groverman’s fire seems to burn as bright today as it ever has.

“You get paid for it in the heart,” he said.

“My ultimate goal is that my legacy lives on as they live on. If I can teach some kid something he uses for the rest of his life, that is an impact. Then he can do the same. It becomes contagious and infectious.”

Sonoma County 4H invites Latinos “To Make Their Best, Better”

A recent study showed that youth engaged with 4H are:
• Nearly two times more likely to get better grades in school;
• Nearly two times more likely to plan to go to college;
• 41 percent less likely to engage in risky behaviors; and
• 25 percent more likely to positively contribute to their families and communities

LA VOZ BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER – Jason Oliveras and family. One of our newest board members.

A big thank you to all who came out and supported our 4th Annual “Celebrate the Center” Pancake Breakfast! I am excited to report that we served over 450 guests at our 4th Annual Pancake Breakfast! We had beautiful spring weather and the Muffin Chef America contest was a hit! We could not of put on this amazing event with out all the generous help from our directors, 4-H youth, 4-H parents, and the 4-H clubs and their wonderful displays, Toni and Phil Brooks, the staff at the Foundation and their family, and everyone else who volunteered. We could not of done it with out you!

A big thank you to all who came out and supported our 4th Annual “Celebrate the Center” Pancake Breakfast! I am excited to report that we served over 450 guests at our 4th Annual Pancake Breakfast! We had beautiful spring weather for a change, and the Muffin Chef America contest was a hit! We could not of put on this amazing event with out all the generous help from our directors, 4-H youth, 4-H parents, and the 4-H clubs and their wonderful displays, Toni and Phil Brooks, the staff at the Foundation and their family, and everyone else who volunteered. We could not of done it with out you!

Ron Carli, a former Sonoma County 4-H Club member who heads one of the largest Farm Credit cooperatives in the United States, is the 2012 recipient of the 4-H Alumni Recognition Award. The 4-H Alumni Award, presented by the 4-H Foundation of Sonoma County, honors a former Sonoma County 4-H Club member who upholds the values of leadership, citizenship and community service, which are the hallmarks of the 4-H program. A Santa Rosa resident , Carli will be recognized at the 4-H Foundation Barbecue on Sept. 15 at Richard’s Grove and Saralee’s Vineyard in Windsor.

Carli, hailed as one of California’s most influential business leaders, is the chief executive officer of Santa Rosa-based American AgCredit. Under Carli’s leadership, American AgCredit, which provides financing to more than 6,000 farmers and ranchers in five states, has grown from $50 million to $5.7 billion in assets. He oversees 400 employees.

Even with his demanding job, Carli gives back to the community in the best 4-H tradition. He served for 16 years as the swine leader for the Steuben 4-H Club and served as a director of the 4-H Foundation of Sonoma County for 12 years. American AgCredit is a major benefactor to 4-H as well as other agricultural and community groups.

Carli credits his drive, determination and leadership to the experiences he had as a member of the Petaluma 4-H Club and Petaluma FFA. He grew up on a small dairy, starting to milk cows on a daily basis when he was 14. He raised registered Jersey cattle and showed them at area fairs as well as the Cow Palace and California State Fair. The ranch chores gave him an appreciation for the value of hard work and exhibiting his cows at the fairs fostered a sense of responsibility and pride in doing well.
“4- H is an excellent program that channels childrens’ energy in a direction that is positive,” said Carli. “It molds them into good citizens and community leaders.”

Carli’s three children, Ben, Jenna and Jill, were all members of the 4-H program. The former 4-H’er is looking to the day when his grandchildren will wear the white and green.

Thirty years ago veterinarian Fred Groverman helped found the Sonoma County 4-H Foundation as a means of expanding opportunities for youth dressed in uniforms of white shirts and green cloth hats.

Fred Groverman is a founding member and board member of the 4-H Foundation. His present effort is to get more Latino youths into 4-H. Today, as the foundation president, the 78-year-old Groverman has taken on a new effort: to encourage more Latino youth to join 4-H “I’m giving back because it worked very good for my children,” Groverman said.

The efforts to increase 4-H’s diversity are fledgling. But Groverman, a Petaluma resident, is credited with pushing to give more young people the opportunity to learn about leadership and agriculture. “Fred’s just been an incredible individual,” said county Supervisor Efren Carrillo. “What’s he’s done is he’s really reached out to various leaders in the Latino community.”

Groverman, 78, recently suffered the loss of his wife of 54 years. Patricia Groverman died March 5 at the age of 74. The couple have been described as the epitome of volunteer leadership in the farm community. In 2006 the county Farm Bureau inducted the Grovermans into its Agriculture Hall of Fame. A Petaluma native, Petaluma High grad and graduate of the UC Davis veterinary school, Fred Groverman’s involvement in the community has gone far beyond his veterinary practice. His past titles include Petaluma Hospital District president, Waugh school board member and county fair board member. He continues to raise Shropshire sheep, which have been on his family’s ranch since 1934, as well as to judge the breed in shows.

But the Grovermans’ legacy will certainly include 4-H. They volunteered when their four children went through the program. Patricia Groverman served a quarter century as coordinator for the Sonoma-Marin Replacement Heifer Project, which gave 4-H youth the chance to raise and show dairy cows.

And Fred Groverman has been on the 4-H Foundation board for all its 30 years. The group helps raise funds and provides grants to the local clubs. And with the help of developer Hugh Codding, the foundation in 1994 built a facility in Rohnert Park for 4-H meetings and other gatherings. “Fred is tireless,” said Stephanie Larson, county director of the UC Cooperative Extension. “He has dedicated a good portion of his life to educating youth.” Susan Hansen, the foundation’s executive director, said “You can’t think of 4-H in Sonoma County without Dr. Fred Groverman. When there’s a need or an important event, he’s always been there for the program and the kids.” While 4-H is often associated with showing lambs, hogs and other animals at the county fair, individual clubs can take on a variety of projects, from gardening to web design. Its boosters said the organization is really about developing young people. “We can teach these kids to be leaders in their community, no matter what project they’re in,” said Larson. Groverman said he hopes 4-H in the years ahead will reflect the great diversity of the county’s youth.“It gives them a direction to go to be successful,” he said. “It seems to me we don’t have enough organizations like that.”