In 2014, 4,401 Martin County residents lived in poverty and 1,093 of them were children. In 2015, 3,981 residents received SNAP benefits. A large portion of these individuals are considered obese due to inactivity and unhealthy eating habits. 

To address this issue, the Supplemental Nutrition Education Program partnered with Martin County Head Start parents to offer a 7 week program to 11 men and women to teach hands-on, nutrition education to limited resource audiences focused on buying and preparing healthy foods, developing cooking skills, adopting new healthy lifestyle behaviors, food safety, managing SNAP resources, and the importance of physical activity. 

As a result of this program, 100% of participants learned the importance of healthy eating habits, food safety, and the importance of physical activity, 100% of participants eat more vegetables more often each day, 81% exercised more than 30 minutes per day, 81.8% make small changes to be more active more often, and an overall 75% of participants met all recommended practices in food resource management. In addition, several participants made comments, such as “I stopped on my way home to buy ingredients for the peaches and cream bagel so my family can try it and they loved it. Now this is a regular breakfast dish in my home.” Another participant stated that she uses all of her kitchen items given to her from each class and it really helps her make healthy meals for her family.