4-H Critter Crew

NOTE: This is the sixth of seven stories The Batavian will publish today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) about this year's Chamber of Commerce award winners. The awards will be presented on Saturday evening at Batavia Downs. Tickets are still available for the event.

For the 4-H Critter Crew learning isn't just something that takes place in a book or through a lecture. It's hands-on. It's fun.

That certainly was the case this past week during the crew's monthly meeting at the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Batavia where they made coffee cakes.

Why coffee cakes? Because this year's learning theme is rainforests and coffee and cinnamon both come from rainforests.

"It's a lot of fun, a lot more ingredients for us to explore," said Stephanee Surabian, founder and leader of the 4-H Critter Crew. "We'll be doing different projects involving, like, flamingos. We have an exotic pet guy coming in with snakes and reptiles geared more toward an educational rainforest theme. So it's a perfect pairing for what we're doing this year."

The Critter Crew is a service and educational club attached to the Cornell Cooperative Extension for younger age 5 to 18. It's being recognized this year by the Chamber of Commerce with a Special Service Recognition Award.

By the fall of 2022, Surabian and the children of the world had been through a lot. As she was preparing to give birth to her fourth child, she was diagnosed with cancer (she's in good health now), and it was also the final months of the pandemic.  She figured kids needed activities to help them get out of the house and reconnect with people. She also thought 4-H could use a program that went beyond dealing with livestock.

"I was seeing a need for the kids to have just that normalcy again right after the peak of COVID," Surabian said.

The club is more than making things and learning about nature. The crew also focuses on serving the community. 

For example, there is the reverse trick-or-treat in October, which involves visits to the Manor House. The kids dress up in costumes, entertain the residents, and hand out candy and other treats. 

"It makes everyone feel young at heart and fills the hearts of those who are not able to be near their grandchildren," said Joseph Burke, one of the people who nominated Critter Crew for the service award.

They also have the Adopt a Grandparent program for the holidays when they deliver gift bags filled with essential items. They also hand out Christmas cookies and sing Christmas carols.

"It warms the hearts of everyone who is present," said Burke. "They do a great job of bringing smiles to the residents’ faces."

Surabian said they have an outreach program for widows on Valentine's Day. They create and deliver cards, picture frames, and other knick-knacks to nominated widows.  They're planning their first Easter Bunny visit to the Manor House this spring.

Another project involves collecting expired food products and converting them to livestock feed. In the past year, they collected more than 200 pounds of food.

Last year, collectively, they performed more than 300 hours of community service.

"Having the kids make those community ties and hands-on relationships really bridges that gap," Surabian said. "When they get older, they'll already be very much integrated and blended into the community. So I think that's a big, big step in navigating life."

Craft projects include making birds wings (again, related to the rainforest theme), which they will wear in the Memorial Day Parade. There are also guest speakers scheduled.

On the fun side (that also includes learning) in the works for the club is a visit to the Wild Center, in Tupper Lake.

"My goal toward the end of the summer is to take an educational field trip to explore the tree tops to get a forest canopy perspective, maybe do some zip lining through the forest," said Surabian. "Then there are some underwater cavern tours with underground waterfalls, which some people don't know are in a rainforest, so I thought it would be perfect to mix with the crafting and baking and then that hands-on learning, too."

Surabian is originally from Arizona. Her husband is from Batavia. They have four children. She has an associates degree and was working toward her bachelor's when she was diagnosed with cancer. 

"I kind of took a left turn and put all my focus and energy into volunteering," Surabian said. "I absolutely love being busy. I thrive on it. Prior to my volunteer work, I was a compliance officer, so I stayed very busy working and staffing nurses all over the country."

All four of her children, Gavin, 13, Morgan, 11, Kensley, 6, and Lincoln, 3, participate in Critter Crew.

She's clearly energized by working with the kids in the club and she said she loves it.

"I think my favorite is seeing how they engage with the elderly," Surabian said. "That is the most rewarding experience outside of the fun that they have. Actually, I lied. Okay, so the food, I'm sorry. I just reminded myself -- the food, I think, is probably the most fun because, surprisingly, I try to keep it very basic, but there's so many things that we've done that kids have never even tried before, so that is a whole level of fun for me, to be able to broaden their food horizons."

Photos by Howard Owens.