According to KCEOC Community Action Partnership website the poverty rate for Eastern Kentucky is 1.5 times the national rate and 17 counties in the Eastern Kentucky area are among the top 100 poorest counties in the U.S. Shearita Bargo invited me to work with a group of families, specifically, Stay At Home Parents along with their children ages 0 – 4 years old and teach her participants how to provide more nutritious meals for themselves, their children, and their families. In order to meet this need I taught Healthy Choices For Everybody. 

Upon completing this program families showed changes in the following areas: 

• 67% of participants eat fruit more often each day
• 50% of participants eat vegetables more often each day
• 100% of participants eat dark green vegetables more often each week
• 33% of participants drink regular soda less often
• 83% of participants exercise for at least 30 minutes more days a week
• 83% of participants strengthen muscles more days a week
• 33% of participants cook dinner at home more times a week
• 50% of participants compare food prices more often

The most memorable moment from this class is when a participant approached me the next time I saw the participant after the lesson titled Know The Limits. In this lesson there is a recipe called No Salt All-Purpose blend. Each participant was given a sample to take home and try. This participant let me know that her husband had been using it and this participant’s husband had went to the Doctor and the Doctor told him to continue what he was doing because his blood pressure had decreased. The participant let me know that she believed it was due to using the No Salt All-Purpose blend that was provided for her the month before.