Families need assistance in gaining access to food, stretching food dollars, and preparing healthy foods are all program needs the Simpson County Extension Council has identified.  The 4-H Agent conducts a measuring lab for the 4^th & 5^th grade classrooms at Lincoln Elementary annually, prior to state testing.  The labs include a demonstration on how to measure common ingredients found in the kitchen and a hands-on measuring activity.  Each student uses both dry & liquid measuring cups to make and sample their own Banana Pudding from the Teen Cuisine curriculum.  Simpson County Schools are 62% free or reduced lunch so each student received a SNAP measuring cup to practice measuring at home.  A follow-up survey was given one-two weeks after the labs. 64% of the students reported measuring at home, including measuring sugar to make Koolaid or tea, measuring flour to make cakes, cupcakes, & cookies, and measuring ingredients to make slime.  After the lab 89% of the students understand how math skills are used when cooking and 73% said the lab taught them how to properly identify and use both dry & liquid measuring cups.

The Boys & Girls Club has a garden planted, cared for, and harvested by members who take the produce home for their families to eat.  Both tomatoes and watermelon were grown in the garden this year so the 4-H Agent was asked to teach the club’s teen members how to prepare what's fresh in the garden.  40 teens learned how to properly cut a watermelon then sampled recipes made from tomatoes and/or watermelon: KY Proud Tomato Watermelon Salad, Watermelon Juice from the Summer 2019 Chop Chop magazine, and KY Proud Bacon Tomato Dip.  All of the teens received a Chop Chop magazine and the recipes to take home.  The Boys & Girls Club 6^th & 7^th grade youth coordinator was in the room during the program.  The coordinator told the teens, “I remember the measuring labs when I was in school.  Mrs. Webster asked if anyone knew what makes brown sugar brown and I knew the answer.  She gave me a cookbook for knowing and I still use that cookbook eight years later.”  The coordinator is now a junior in college majoring in business who says he cooks, eats healthy, and focuses on living a healthy lifestyle.