Success StoryHealthy Choices For Everybody Before And During COVID-19



Healthy Choices For Everybody Before And During COVID-19

Author: Clarissa Cheatwood

Planning Unit: Jefferson County CES

Major Program: Nutrition and Food Systems General

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

A non-profit program in Jefferson County offers services to women that are pregnant and that have children.  Many of the women live in areas that do not have access to grocery stores to get fresh fruits and vegetables.  Some did not have family members and had been homeless.  The Nutrition Education Program Assistant at the Jefferson County Extension Services began offering the Healthy Choices For Everybody program to teach them cooking skills, and how to eat healthy and feed their families.  Some fed their children a lot of quick and processed foods prior to the program.  The women were taught about MY Plate, food safety, meal planning, eating better on a budget, reading nutrition labels, knowing the limits of fats, sugars and salt and the importance of eating breakfast.  They learned how to prepare healthy and affordable meals for their families.  At the of the program the participants were not very engaged with the class, however, by the third class, the women paid attention to the information and participated in the class activities with enthusiasm.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the participants were not able to "graduate" from the program in person.  One particular program participant maintained contact with the Assistant via phone and mail and was able to receive her graduation certificate and reinforcement items through a socially distance delivery by the assistant.  Because of the health issues of this participant, The Nutrition Education Program helped her learn how to make healthy choices for herself and her family. 






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