January 16, 2025
Host Families Needed for International Delegates
Looking for fun and excitement this summer? States 4-H and Kansas 4-H has a great opportunity for families this summer to host a new international friend in your home this summer. Kansas 4-H International Exchange Programs are offering hosting opportunities for families to host youth from Costa Rica: June 25 – July 19; Japan: July 21 – August 16; Norway: June 25 – July 19; and Taiwan: July 3 – August 2. Host families are needed to host an international boy or girl. The international youth will be between the ages of 12 - 18. Kansas 4-H’s responsibility is to make host family assignments matching each delegate with an American same-gender host sibling as soon as possible so that families and exchange delegates can communicate and get to know each other.
Any Kansas family with children aged 10-19 who are interested in a cultural exchange, may host. A separate bed is required, but not necessarily a separate room from the host sibling. Delegates are 100 percent medically covered with 4-H insurance and bring their own spending money. They can go on host family vacations, camping trips, or join their host siblings for summer camps and the county fair. The focus is everyday family life.
Interested families can complete the application at https://www.states4hexchange.org/apply/host/ to start the process. The Japanese Delegates' personal information forms arrive in February.
If you have further questions, please call Pam Van Horn, Kansas 4-H Japanese Exchange Coordinator, (785) 826-8917, or e-mail pvanhorn@ksu.edu or Mary Kay Munson, State Coordinator Costa Rica, Norway, and Taiwan, mkm2@ksu.edu.