By: Nancy Quay

Nancy Quay — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:19:54 +0000

I’m a Master Gardener through our county Extension office, and worked numerous days this summer on the Gardening Hotline at the Zeeb Road Extension office.

On one afternoon alone, I overhead the following phone conversations held by Extension employees:
-Counseling and supporting a person about to be foreclosed;
-Advocating for such an individual with a financial institution;
-Coaching a new mother regarding how to breastfeed her child;
-Guiding another new mother through expectations about newborn behavior;
-Making arrangements for 4-H club activity prior to the Fair;
-Answering detailed technical questions from a local farmer about crop management; and
-Scheduling the next food safety class for restaurant employees to be held at the Extension office.

If the Extension services in our county went away, I can say with assurance that the loss would touch each and every one of our lives. Extension employees provide our infrastructure…often without notice, usually without recognition. Their services are worth every penny our county or state can provide.

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By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:15:13 +0000

Oh, that feeling of the axe swishing by over the head! This would have been a terrible time to eliminate MSU Extension. Quite aside from the 4H program, it is crucial to the survival and improvement of Michigan agriculture. We are lucky to live in a state where “local food” is actually possible. It is important to retain the technical expertise and governmental infrastructure to regulate and inform this crucial Michigan industry as we move into a time of likely scarcity because of energy costs in importing food.

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Comments on: Local MSU Extension Saved from Closing

By: Nancy Quay

By: Vivienne Armentrout