21.4% of the population in Marshall County, KY is made up of persons age 65 or older as reported by the United States Census Bureau. Equipped with this knowledge, the Marshall County SNAP-ED Assistant conducted a program at the local community kitchen encouraging seniors to participate in learning about nutrition, budgeting, and meal planning. Lessons from the “Healthy Choices for Everybody” curriculum were taught while “Healthy Choice” newsletters and recipe cards were used as additional resources to emphasize concepts taught in each lesson. At each session, seniors played a small game or icebreaker, participated in a nutrition lesson, and received a reinforcement item to aid in cooking healthy recipes at home. Due to the location of the program, participants were also offered a free and nutritious meal provided by the kitchen.

After completing seven lessons in the program it was found that 56% of the seniors involved began using grocery lists more often, using the Nutrition Facts label on food items when shopping and preparing foods without adding salt. All nine senior participants exited the program showing improvement in one or more nutrition areas, such as planning meals, comparing prices, and not running out of food at the end of the month.