Author: Jessica Morris
Planning Unit: Wolfe County CES
Major Program: Family and Consumer Science
Plan of Work: Developing Leadership, Citizenship, Health, & Life Skills Among Youth
Outcome: Initial Outcome
As the pandemic swept across the commonwealth, the needs of our clients rose as well as the need to find a new delivery method. Wolfe County 4-H, Wolfe County SNAP Ed Assistant (Joy Rose), Youth Service Center (Connie Campbell) and Wolfe County ASAP collaborated together to provide a seven week cooking club for families of Wolfe County. Through grant funding from ASAP and funds provided by our YSC, we were able to partner together to provide each family with a crock pot and all ingredients needed for seven recipes. Each week, the family stops by the Extension Office to pick up their supply bag containing all ingredients for that week’s recipe. If a family is unable to pick up their bag, 4-H Agent (Jessica Morris) and YSC (Connie Campbell) deliver it to the family. Each family is added to a Facebook group and at a designated time, Joy Rose, SNAP Ed Assistant, does a Facebook live video of herself preparing the recipe. She also conducts a nutrition lesson at this time. This allows the families the opportunity to reach out to her if they have any questions. At this time, we have conducted this Cooking Club three separate rounds, serving forty families in total. Not only are we better educating families about nutritional recipes and budgeting methods, but we have empowered them to step out of their comfort zones. While we have had several families, indicate that they have made the recipes time and time again after their cooking club concluded, we have one story that leads the rest. A grandparent raising her four grandchildren asked about participating in this program. While she was interested in participating, she remained very apprehensive as she is unable to read well. She was concerned that she would be unable to read the recipe to follow it. We all encouraged her to participate and she reluctantly agreed. She watched as Joy made the recipe online and made hers at home as she went. At the end of the program, she reported that if not for this program, she would not have had the confidence to cook for her family with these new recipes. This delivery method made learning possible for her. While during the pandemic we have had to change our programming, we have found that it has forced us to step out of our own comfort zones and try new methods. This has made a positive impact on our program and has led us to developing more creative ideas for the future.
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