An “Entire community can inspire, equip and mobilize people to take action that changes the word.” So says a proclamation from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Office declaring April 1723 as National Volunteer Week in Pecos County. The Pecos County Commissioner’s Court approved the proclamation read by Extension Agent Karan Hefelfinger at the March 27 Commissioner’s Court meeting.

“We will be having our volunteer banquet during that week,” Hefelfinger said.

The local extension office had 247 volunteers in 2022.

“We couldn’t do what we do without the volunteers,” Hefelfinger added. “We use volunteers as direct adult volunteers without our projects, we have livestock mentors, volunteers with livestock projects, we have our ag committee and task force, we also have our FCS program committee and our FCS Task Force, leadership advisory board that advises us into our programming and what we do within the county to help to recognize the needs in the county so we meet the needs of the citizens and individuals within the county.”

Hefelfinger also recognized 4-H volunteers and others who support various other programs, totaling an average of 110 hours and said that if all the volunteers were paid, it would cost more than $30,000.

“Because we don’t pay our volunteers, it’s really quite a savings,” Hefelfinger added. “We really appreciate our volunteers.”

*The 34th Annual Matthies- Bennett 4-H Scholarship Auction takes place April 15 beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Pecos County Coliseum. Auctioneer will be Kaleb Edwards.

Pecos County, the City of Fort Stockton, and Pecos County Memorial Hospital are among the entities who have donated numerous items for the auction. Since 1989, the auction has accumulated more than $261,118 to be used in the Matthies-Bennett Scholarship Fund, with 2% of the gross balance of the scholarship fund to be awarded to qualified scholarship recipients.

In other action:

• The commissioner’s court, accepted a donation of $100 from Six Shooter Ranches to go to the Imperial Public Library; • Approved a request from Matterhorn Express Pipeline to cut county roads in Coyanosa east to the Pecos River into Crane County to lay a 36-inch natural gas pipeline and to build one permanent and 10 temporary driveways/ culverts. The cuts will be made on Trailer House Road, Water Well Field Road, PCFW Water Line, Buena Vista Road, County Road 1759 and Old Girvin Road.