Junior and senior Hall County 4-H Club members recently participated in District Project Achievement on March 6-8 at Rock Eagle 4-H Center. First-place winners go to the State 4-H Congress which will be in July in Atlanta. Winners in the junior division were:

• From North Hall Middle School: Bethany Green, cat care; Leah Holbrooks, wildlife.
• From South Hall Middle: Anna Minor, fruits, nuts and vegetables
• Winners in the senior division were:
• From Flowery Branch High School: David French, history.

Gainesville State College President Martha T. Nesbitt was among six Georgia leaders who were presented with the Turknett Leadership Character Award at the sixth annual event held in February in Atlanta.

The Turknett Leadership Character Awards recognize individuals and companies who demonstrate character in leadership - high levels of integrity; relating to employees, customers, suppliers and others with respect; and maintaining a culture in which everyone takes responsibility for achieving results while upholding the organization's core values.

Nesbitt's co-nominators, Penny Mills, interim vice president for academic affairs and executive dean of the Oconee Campus, and Mary Lou Frank, associate vice president for academic affairs, emphasized Nesbitt's leadership and guidance through the college's journey to becoming tobacco-free.

Turknett Leadership Group is a management consulting firm based in Atlanta that has developed high-level leaders and their organizations throughout the U.S. for more than 20 years.

Tracey Field, 28, and her mother, Jeanie Field, moved to Gainesville about a year ago. In their search for volunteer activities in the area, Tracey discovered Creative Community Services, a nonprofit agency that serves children and adults in foster care with therapy and developmental assistance.

During Christmas, the agency put out a call for donations to help fulfill clients' Christmas wishes. The Fields, who said they were moved to help other adults who struggle with disabilities in a similar situation as Tracey, started to shop for six adults and ended up sponsoring more than 25 adults for Christmas.

Tracey is now a Creative Community Services community partner and will be continuing her support for Creative Community Services through volunteering.

Funderful World of Music, a music studio in Gainesville, will teach local children about charity and stewardship, along with piano and singing, during a project this spring.

All students at Funderful World of Music will be "working," through their practice efforts, for the next eight weeks to raise money for women and children in the African refugee camp of Buduburam. Buduburam is located in Ghana in West Africa, and Funderful students will join with Point Hope in raising money to help people there.

There are more than 40,000 refugees in this camp because of a civil war in their home country of Liberia. The refugee camp was once supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but since they left in April of 2007 conditions at the camp have deteriorated.

For additional information on To Africa With Love or on how to sponsor a child's practice efforts, contact Pam Garland at 770-287-7509 or funderfulmusic@aol.com.