Pat Aerni

By: Jordan and KC

Pat Aerni is a Local Anonymous Extraordinary who works with kids in the 4H program. Pat works with kids from 8-15 years old, helping them with archery and showing beef. He gives up time away from his family to help these kids every week.

What really makes Pat a Local Anonymous Extraordinary is when we asked to interview him he answered, “Really, me? You must be scraping the bottom of the barrel!” This response tells us that he doesn't know how much he does for kids. He said the most rewarding part of helping with the 4H program is seeing kids succeed and having them come back and thank him years later. That's when he notices how much he is helping people of our community.

Pat started the 4H archery program five years ago after being on the fair board for fifteen years. He decided to get involved with the program because as a child he was engaged in 4H himself, and now that his kids are in 4H, he thought it was really needed. Numbers have risen steadily over the years. Originally starting with 12, it has grown four to five kids a year, and now numbers are up around 25. He would like to see numbers continue to rise as long as there are enough volunteers to manage the number of kids.