At 10 years old, Micah Lui has already learned that caring for an animal means showing up — even when the weather doesn’t cooperate.
His mother, Emily, remembers Micah retrieving his sheep for shearing in the middle of a Castro Valley hailstorm. No complaints.
“He knew he had to do it, and he just did it,” Emily said. “That is priceless for me.”
It’s the kind of responsibility she hoped Micah would develop when the family joined the Redwood 4-H Club in Castro Valley nearly two years ago. Several times a week, Micah spends 30 to 60 minutes feeding, walking, training and bonding with his lambs. The time together builds trust.
“I like it when I can pet the animals and they’re not afraid of me,” Micah said.
4-H is a national youth program that builds practical life skills through hands-on agricultural experiences. Emily learned about the program from a friend and was drawn to its lessons in responsibility, teamwork, financial management and communicating with prospective buyers.
Micah has embraced those lessons. Now in his second year, he sometimes helps first-year participants when their lambs become difficult to handle. Emily said older participants also help younger members with jobs they aren’t yet big enough to tackle, while younger children find other ways to pitch in.
But this year, Micah had to take on more than his mother expected.
Last November, his father, Andrew, suffered a heart attack. Andrew survived, but the experience limited how much he could help with Micah’s 4-H obligations. The previous year, he had taken on some of the heavier work caring for Micah’s livestock. After the heart attack, Emily wanted him to do less physical work.
Micah stepped up.
“I knew part of it was building his sense of responsibility,” Emily said. “But this year, I really saw the grit that was built.”
That same focus on responsibility and character is part of Washington Health’s involvement in the Alameda County Fair Junior Livestock Auction, where 4-H and FFA members raise and show animals while developing agricultural and business skills.
Washington Health’s participation began through a project with former Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty. For the past three years, Washington Health has partnered with Supervisor David Haubert.
Before auction day, students send letters seeking meetings with prospective bidders. The Washington Health team spends a day interviewing about 40 4-H and FFA participants and learning about the work they put into their animals.
Washington Health is the event’s top bidder each year. This year, it purchased 14 hogs and nine lambs and jointly purchased one-third of a steer with Haubert.
The purchases also create a local farm-to-table connection. Meat from the auction makes its way back to Washington Health, where it is served in the cafeteria in dishes ranging from pork adobo and torta de carnitas to lamb shanks and pork-and-beef albondigas.
For Micah, months of caring for his lamb eventually came down to a few pressure-filled minutes in the show ring. Emily said he walks with his animals, talks to them and even sings to them as he prepares for the fair.
How did he handle the pressure?
“I just swallowed it and let it out after the fair,” he said.
Micah didn’t place. But something he did before the auction made a bigger impression on his mother.
While writing letters to prospective buyers, Micah told Emily he didn’t want to mention his father’s heart attack. He wanted someone to buy his sheep because of the work he’d done, she recalled, not because they felt sorry for him.
The eventual buyer was Washington Health.
Micah understood from the beginning that raising a market lamb meant eventually saying goodbye. For his family, though, the connection went much deeper.
After his heart attack, Andrew was referred to Washington Health for its cardiac rehabilitation program, offered in collaboration with UCSF Health and recognized by the American Heart Association. Micah spent time there during his father’s recovery and remembers the day Andrew completed the program, right down to the “Congrats Grad” balloons.
Months later, the place Micah knew for helping his father recover was raising its hand for the lamb he had spent months raising himself. For Emily, the experience allowed her to see another side of her son.
“This gave me a glimpse of who my son is becoming,” she said.
To learn more about heart attack signs and cardiac care at Washington Health, visit washingtonhealth.com/services/heart.