Life skills, like the ability to plan a meal and fix it for yourself, come easy to most adults.  However, when you are a special needs adult, those skills may not come so easy.   According to the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, Daviess County has 15.6% of their population with some sort of disability.  To assist with meeting the needs of this population of adults, the Daviess County Nutrition Education Program (NEP) partnered with The Opportunity Center to provide cooking classes to their clients.   

The Opportunity Center began around 1955 and works to provide vocational and daily living oriented training to adults with disabilities.  They currently serve 30 adults daily, on average.  To meet the needs of all the adults, the Daviess County NEP Assistant divided the class into 2 groups.  One group would travel to the Daviess County Extension office for nutrition lessons and hands-on cooking experiences, while the second group would receive their lessons at the Opportunity Center facility.   Both groups learned about MyPlate, the five food groups, basic meal planning tips, food safety, and making good food choices.  

The response to the partnership has been positive!  The director of the Opportunity Center stated, “Clients seem to enjoy it and being involved with something new!  The Daviess County NEP Assistant is great with coming up with different ideas to get our clients to try new foods.  That’s a good thing.”