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The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF), in partnership with the Nationwide Foundation, have made a combined challenge grant of $3 million to The Ohio State University to build a new Ohio 4-H Center. Through this challenge grant, $1 will be donated for every $2 the university raises to support this new facility.

"Ohio Farm Bureau members know the importance of relationships and supporting youth," said John C. (Jack) Fisher, OFBF executive vice president. "We’re proud to stand along side our great friends at the Nationwide Foundation to create a facility that will both honor and sustain Ohio’s tremendous 4-H program."

"We are thrilled to be continuing our long-standing support of Ohio State, while at the same time paying tribute to an agribusiness heritage and a 75-year partnership with the Ohio Farm Bureau," said Stephen A. Rish, Nationwide Foundation president.

Ground for the Ohio 4-H Center will be broken in the fall of 2002. The facility, which will be located on Lane Avenue, west of the Jerome Schottenstein Center and east of Route 315 North, will serve as a youth development center and a training center for volunteer leaders. Currently, more than 286,000 youth and more than 30,000 volunteers are involved in Ohio 4-H programs.

"This marvelous new facility will showcase 4-H youth development’s role as Ohio State’s primary youth outreach organization," according to Dr. Bobby Moser, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and vice president for Agricultural Administration and University Outreach. "We are very grateful to the Nationwide Foundation and the Farm Bureau for their ongoing support."