The Cooperative Extension Service through the EFNEP,(Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program) assistant works with a local rehabmade up pregnant women and new mom’s coming off drugs.  They are going from a reckless lifestyle to amore healthy responsible way of living for themselves and their families.  According to one of the quotes from the Marchof Dimes, “each year in the United States, more than 120,000 babies are bornwith a birth defect.” They also have a particular topic on food shopping on abudget which with “Healthy Choices for Every Body” curriculum that is beingused with  these ladies, you can see howthey are impacted greatly by the skills they are able to learn through thecurriculum.  The rehab the ladies andtheir newborns reside in, is basically their first step back to society.  Here they are taught how to develop lifeskills from cleaning, working, being responsible, and learning to actually runa household, from the cooking, to menu planning, what goes into actually buyingfoods.  With that being said, healthyoptions instead of the unhealthy that came into play while they were usingdrugs, is sometimes a welcome embrace. The EFNEP  (Expanded FoodNutrition Education Program) assistant works with these ladies conducting manyclasses on a regular basis, especially working with the clients on planningmenus, eating better on a budget, and feeding your pregnant body.  From one of the recent classes,"Breakfast Made Easy for Every Body”, the clients made the Whole GrainStrawberry pancakes and sampled them before the assistant left.  The ladies shared the samples with the staffand actually requested that they be allowed to incorporate the making of themfor breakfast in their regular menus at the center.  After sampling and discussing their desire toincorporate this recipe with their others, the staff were on board with theidea too.

Even though numerous classes from the Cooperative ExtensionService, helps the clients in many facets, whether a client remains in the areaor not, they are able to take their newly learned life skills, or reinforcedfood safety issues, with them wherever they chose.  The skills learned can then be shared withothers.