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Editor’s Note: This feature originally ran on February 26, 2025 in the 2025 Progress edition (Chambers County Is…). The Progress edition is a publication produced annually by the Valley Times News. If you would like to pick up a copy of the 2025 Progress edition, please visit our office at 4002 20th Ave Suite E in Valley.

For those of us raised in the rural South, that usually means that you remember your local 4H program and Alabama Cooperative Extension Office, if not as a member then as a volunteer. 

Surprisingly for one who has devoted her career to expanding the local Extension Office, that wasn’t the case for Rachel Snoddy. Originally from Blount County, she was first introduced to the program while studying at Auburn University. She joined the Extension Office as an intern, and got hired full-time after graduating. 

Eleven years ago, her job brought her back to Chambers County and that’s where she’s stayed ever since. By 2019, she had become the County Extension Coordinator, overseeing leadership, programming and community development projects.

The local extension office didn’t always have so many offerings for the youth when she first took her position.

“I made a lot of relationships to get us into more schools, and just made a lot of connections by trying to grow our program so much,” Snoddy recalled. “And I just fell in love with the people here … As I continued working and gaining those relationships and showing people what 4H can do for their students, I just didn’t want to leave.”

The Chambers County Extension Office Coordinator does so much more than facilitate the 4H program. 

From the very successful Fourth Grader Groundwater Festival to the ever expanding Chambers County Health and Wellness Center in LaFayette, Snoddy can be found promoting agriculture, food safety, fishing and forestry and more. 

“You can do just about anything with employees for so many [different] curricula,” Snoddy said. “… And we really just want to focus on what the kids in our area are interested in [and] what’s needed.”

With resources from all around the country, the extension office can provide services unique to what Chambers County students want.

“We do tune into our communities to see what resources are lacking, what programs are lacking, what are people interested in doing and learning about, what are the needs out there,” Snoddy said. “And then we do our best to address those needs and meet those needs how we can.” 

When asked what makes the county special, Snoddy attributed it to the people who make up the community. She said, “It’s just so great to feel like you’re really part of the community and hopefully making a difference or helping guide kids to see what their interests really are, as to what their future might be, trying to get them as many experiences as possible.”

“And I feel like if you really want to make that difference in a community, you got to stick around and keep with those kids all throughout high school, to show them all the things that they can learn and do and be a part of,” Snoddy added. 

Snoddy’s perfect day in Chambers County or LaFayette would be an event that showcased all the resources in the community that people often overlook, such as the Circle of Care, the Chambers County Health and Wellness Center and the local industries. 

The CCHWC is a partnership between the Auburn Rural Health Project, the Chambers County Commission and the City of LaFayette. The center aims to bring health education and resources to the rural parts of the county through Auburn student and faculty projects as well as the high tech OnMed virtual clinic. 

“There are still pockets of the county who don’t know that they can get free health care,” Snoddy said. “And there’s a food pantry in there, free period supplies in there.”

The Extension Office offers programming and educational events for schools, libraries and churches. Most of the programs are free, except for select events like the ServSafe and Food Safety courses that provide certifications. 

“We have someone who can teach on just about any topic, whether it’s learning how to prune your trees, or planting a vegetable garden,” Snoddy said, adding that the office even hosts a program on healthy cooking tips for certain health issues such as cancer and diabetes. 

After cultivating the youth in Chambers County for over 10 years, Snoddy’s advice for young people is to explore non-traditional opportunities when it comes to ways of impacting your community. 

“I feel like there are so many different areas that people can work in that teenagers don’t realize all the opportunities there are out there for careers,” Snoddy explained. 

For example, she said, the Extension Office offers unique opportunities in agriculture and education. 

So much opportunity, like with Extension, has come to Chambers County already in recent years. Ultimately, Snoddy said she hopes to see a community with so much potential continue to grow.