Our lives have been turned upside down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything that is important to us has been affected by this virus. How we communicate, interact with one another, how we travel has been impacted, programs, schools, and stores are all being forced to close their doors. In any challenge there is opportunity and during this difficult time we have had to be more open to new thinking and new ways of doing things we have only thought of as being to bold or impossible. To address this issue of providing nutrition education to the families in the community the Wolfe County Cooperative Extension Service, Nutrition Education Assistant turned to the internet and social media to reach the lives of clientele in the community and bring them the education once taught in person. An online program called “Healthy Choices for Every Body” was created using private groups on Facebook and Zoom to conduct a seven week program. The focus of the online program was on planning meals, budgeting, food safety, and other educational lessons. During this time participants would receive an invite to a Zoom lesson and each participant would listen and interact about each topic.
Out of the 13 participants, both male and female, 10 of them completed the online program. During the 7 week period these participants started using meal planners, grocery lists, and cooking with what they already had on hand. One participant stated, “I was so scared when I couldn’t purchase certain items at the grocery store but after participating in these lessons I have learned that I can substitute ingredients with others. I now use dry milk in my cooking and save my liquid milk for my family to drink.” Another participant stated, “I am more mindful when planning my menu. I plan using leftovers in my menus and that saves me a lot of time and money and I am less stressed about shopping at the grocery.”