In Jefferson County there is a large residential recovery center for women.  Because of substance use and other circumstances, often these women have not been eating balanced meals or had access to fresh fruits and vegetables in the areas they live in.  These women were interested in learning about cooking healthy meals, how much they should eat and preparing healthy snacks.  They had concerns about eating less sugar, sodium and fats , due to health issues.  They were eating a lot of salty and sugary snacks during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Typically, the Nutrition Education Program (NEP) Assistant from the Jefferson County Cooperative Extension Service provided weekly classes at the center.  However, due to visitor restrictions during the pandemic, it was not always possible to conduct these classes in person.  Because of this, the NEP Assistant, along with the center coordinator and a volunteer , who was a former EFNEP graduate, were able to start the virtual classes via Zoom.  There were some technical difficulties at the start.  but the volunteer was able to communicate via telephone, email.  The Healthy Choices for Every Body curriculum power points were shown in the Zoom meetings.  The assistant took the food and recipe to the volunteer a day before the Zoom meeting.  The volunteer stored the food and prepared, for tasting using  low touch recipes.  The participants learned about limiting fats, sugars, and sodium for some of their health issues. 

They also learned how to keep their food safe and using meat thermometers, how to plan meals, eat better on a budget and reading nutrition facts labels to help them prepare healthy meals and snacks.  The volunteer also made sure the NEP assistant received attendance sign in sheets and the enrollment and exit forms.  In the 2021 program year 23 women graduated from the program .  96% reported thawing frozen food at room temperature less often, 78% reported eating fruit more often each day, 70% reported an improvement in making small changes to be active more often and 65% reported an improvement in budgeting enough money for food purchase and checking for sales on food items when at the store.  After graduating the required lessons, the participants and volunteer were presented with graduation certificates and bags of reinforcement items.