The KEHA Cultural Arts and Heritage Program area annually sponsors a reading program. Extension Homemakers may participate by reading one book from six of these nine categories: the arts; biography; family and consumer sciences; fiction; history; Kentucky; religion and spirituality; travel; and classics and old favorites. Keep a record of the books read and submit the record to the club Cultural Arts and Heritage chair. The club chair should forward that information to the county chair or to the extension agent. Qualified readers may receive the Cultural Arts Reading Award Bookmark recognition at the county level. Counties are responsible for printing their own bookmark. The bookmark is available for download on the KEHA Cultural Arts and Heritage web page. This is only a suggested list. You may choose your own titles. Your local public librarian may have other suggestions. Local libraries usually belong to the Kentucky Library Network, which allows individuals to borrow books from other libraries through interlibrary loan. If you cannot find the book you wish to read at your local library, ask about this service.

Kelly May (KEHA State Advisor)

Booklist can be found here. 

The Volunteer Service Unit (VSU) program is intended to recognize individual volunteer efforts in your club and community. It is also intended to help you grow personally in volunteer leadership skills, and to show you how you might use those skills. 

What is a volunteer? A volunteer is an individual who agrees to do a job or perform a service for others (not family*) for which the only pay is the personal satisfaction of a job well done. A volunteer can share time, knowledge, skills, materials, etc. with others. A volunteer may be paid or reimbursed for out of pocket expenses related to volunteer work.

What is a Volunteer Service Unit (VSU)? A VSU is an hour of volunteer effort. These hours include hours spent preparing to carry out a volunteer activity as well as the hours spent directly involved in volunteer work. This includes hours spent within the KEHA organization, in volunteer roles with Cooperative Extension and other community work.

How can I earn VSU's? By regularly recording volunteer service hours on VSU log and submitting your log to your county club/county Leadership Development Chairman. VSU's should be reported in the KEHA year in which the service occurred.

How are VSU's categorized? The VSU program has been reworked and expanded to included four categories of services. Those categories include Extension, KEHA, Community and Personal.

What counts as volunteer hours in each category?

• Extension - All Extension Agent directed programs, including “train the trainer” lessons where you participate in agent-led training then teach the lesson to your club or other audiences. This category also includes assisting with any program organized and presented by an Extension agent like judging a 4-H event, leading a 4-H club, volunteering at an Extension field day, etc. This also includes volunteering for activities like 4-H Speech contests, Farm Safety Days, 4-H Reality Store, LEAP, or serving as a member or officer for the county Extension Council, county Family and Consumer Sciences Advisory County, County Extension District Board or State Extension Council. Counted hours should include your training, preparation time, travel time and delivery time to your audience. The key here is agent-led and directed programs where the KEHA member is a volunteer.
• KEHA - Programs that originate and are directed by KEHA leaders and members. This includes service to a club, county, area, or the state as a committee member or officer. Participation in training sessions and organizing and leading KEHA-sponsored events should be counted. All volunteer hours from planning, preparing and conducting the meeting or activity should be included, as well as travel time, phone and/or messaging time and activity/presentation time. All volunteer time for club, county, area or state KEHA projects, fundraisers and special initiatives would be counted in this category. Examples include: making quilts for the Center for Courageous Kids, baking for local bake sales, planting trees, picking up trash in local clean-up project, etc.
• Community - This category is for your service as a member or officer within community groups not Extension or KEHA coordinated or led. Examples include: local home owner’s association, library board, Rotary or Kiwanis, Eastern Star, parent-teacher organizations, etc. This category is also for reporting volunteer time mentoring/tutoring students at school, with local literacy programs, senior home visits/music programs, American Cancer Society, Red Cross, local health departments, etc. as long as the volunteer role is not related to an Extension-led activity or Extension Homemakers activity. Also report serving as a volunteer first responder, on a local school board, any governmental appointments, jury duty, or any other similar roles. All volunteer hours from planning, preparing and conducting the meeting or activity should be included, as well as travel time, phone and/or messaging time and activity/presentation time.
• Personal - This category is for discretionary reporting of any unpaid service to family, friends, and neighbors. It includes babysitting relatives not living with you, taking a neighbor or friend to the doctor and/or shopping, mowing the neighbors’ lawn, shoveling their snow, raking leaves, etc. Church and faith-based participation such as choir member practice, Sunday school, transporting church members and other religious activities can also be included in this category.

VSU form can be found here: