Success StoryAfter School Programs



After School Programs

Author: Connie Downey

Planning Unit: Clay County CES

Major Program: Nutrition and Food Systems General

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

According to Kentucky Health Facts (kentuckyhelathfacts.org), the obesity rate in Clay County is 38%.  Health risks of being obese include heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. In order to help address this, Clay County Cooperative Extension Service SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) assistant partnered with Save the Children Burning Springs After School program and Goose Rock After School program to provide nutritional education and information about physical activity.

Teaching the Yummy curriculum along with Rethink Your Drink program to demonstrate how much sugar the youth was consuming in sugary beverages and in sugar sweeten snacks among twenty-three 3rd – 5th graders. The groups showed a 70% improvement in their responses to fruit flavored and sports drinks and a 22% improvement in their responses to soda or pop. The youths were amazed at the amount of sugar soda and sports drinks contained.  The groups also showed a 74% improvement in having vegetables as a snack and an 87% improvement in having fruits as a snack.  One of the youth participants shared that they had told their parents about the health snacks and went to the store with their parents to buy some of the stuff that we sampled






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