VALLEY POINT, W.Va. — Monday night Preston County 4-H’ers invited the community to join them in supporting members of their 4-H family who are hurting.
People gathered at the Mount Moriah Church to show support for four Preston High students who were injured in an auto accident coming home from school Feb. 6, and the boys’ families.
While the rain poured outside, about 100 people gathered in a circle inside the church. Four-H uses circles in many ways, Preston County 4-H Agent David Hartley said.
“At 4-H camp, we do a circle every night,” he noted. “We go to council circle and sing songs and we have cheers that we do, and we cheer for one another.”
“As tonight we stand, 4-H’ers are always ready to make a difference, to make the best better, by sharing their light and their hope with their 4-H friends and family,” Hartley said.
Quilts donated by the Otterbein United Methodist Church were given to the families of the boys.
Monday’s gathering was hosted by the Lenox Loyal Workers 4-H Club, but Hartley said other clubs and community organizations are holding similar gatherings throughout Preston County.
The injured boys are 4-H members.
“One of the boys who is in critical condition is one of our 4-H members, and some of the members approached me and said we needed to do something,” Jeff Jenkins, leader of the Lenox club, said. “So we decided this would be good just to bring people together and have a chance to grieve and unite and get behind the boys.”
“We just wanted to come together and light candles and give people a chance to reflect,” Jenkins said.
Preston High students have been wearing blue to support the boys, whom are referred to in prayer requests on Facebook as “our Bruceton boys.”
The Preston County Board of Education also mentioned the students at its meeting Monday. Board Vice President Pam Feathers said as the board opened with a moment of silence, “I ask that you keep our four Preston High students from Bruceton … in your thoughts and prayers.”
The names of the injured boys have not been released. All are freshmen or sophomores.
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Story by Kathy Plum