Contributed

Six million students across America participate in 4-H and, of those, more than 170,000 call Georgia home.

To raise awareness of the state’s largest youth development organization celebrated National 4-H Week on Oct. 1 through Oct. 7.

Each year, more than 30,000 Georgia 4-H youth perform community service, conduct research, compile portfolios of their accomplishments and learn public speaking skills through oral presentations at 4-H District Project Achievement.

One of the statewide service project 4-H students participate in is collecting pop tabs. Georgia 4-H members have collected aluminum pop tabs to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Georgia for the past 15 years.

In 2002, Georgia middle school 4-H students had the idea to collect pop tabs, recycle them and donate the proceeds to Ronald McDonald Houses. One pound of aluminum is equal to about 1,500 pop tabs.

Georgia 4-H rotates the donations each year across the locations of Ronald McDonald Houses in Georgia. This year’s pop tabs will support the Egleston Ronald McDonald House.

Under the umbrella of University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, Georgia 4-H programs are rooted in research from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and other land-grant colleges across the nation. Georgia 4-H agents supplement teachers’ efforts by using after-school lessons and in-school curricula designed to meet Georgia Standards of Excellence.