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Local teen organizes livestock show for people with disabilities

The Daily Record - 3/9/2019

MILLERSBURG — Kiley Ramirez has big plans for the 2019 Holmes County Fair.

Ramirez, a junior at West Holmes High School and a member of the Killbuck Handy Helpers 4-H club and the Holmes County Junior Fair board, is implementing a new program at this year’s fair, a livestock show for individuals with disabilities.

Ramirez, who is 16 and lives in Killbuck, began to formulate the idea while at a leadership conference in Washington, D.C., last summer.

“Basically, the whole week was based around this plan called Living to Serve ... You take [a plan] back to positively impact your community,” Ramirez said. “I was talking to my friends and we had a couple of ideas spinning through our heads ... We were laying down going to sleep and I said, ‘Guys, I have an idea.’ I teared up, I was so happy.”

Ramirez next approached Jaime Chenevey, the agriculture teacher at West Holmes, about her idea. Chenevey’s class was working on an entrepreneur project where students had to come up with a product and market it. Ramirez said it was this class project where she was really able to begin planning the livestock show.

“Her having that project, which she does every year in this class, is helping me build it,” Ramirez said.

This project helped Ramirez come up with registration forms, T-shirt designs and set a goal for how many participants she was hoping for, she said.

“My goal is 20 participants, but I’d love to have more,” Ramirez said. “So it started with the D.C. conference, the Living to Serve plan and [Chenevey’s] project in school helped me build it to what it’s come to.”

The idea of a livestock show for individuals with disabilities hits close to home for Ramirez, as well. Her brother, Ryan Troyer, 33, is disabled, which she said provided her with a source of encouragement.

“So, I’d go to the barn, ‘Ryan, I’m going to the barn to take care of my pigs.’ ‘Wait, I want to come,’ Ramirez said. “So, that helped play into the disabilities aspect. He really helped me.”

Ramirez’s next step was to present her idea to the Holmes County Senior Fair Board, which she did Feb. 14. The Senior Fair Board was very receptive of her plan, she said.

There is no maximum age for participants and they are able to show market goats, pygmy goats, pigs and rabbits, Ramirez said.

The livestock show will be held the Saturday of the 2019 Holmes County Fair. To register or for more information, email Kiley Ramirez at kylie.ramirez2020@gmail.com.

Kristin Hohman can be reached at 330-674-5676 or khohman@the-daily-record.com. Follow her on Twitter at Kay_elizabeth07.

CREDIT: KRISTIN HOHMAN

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