Big Blue Goals

In January 2021, the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service began a program to help people reach goals to help participants establish goals to engage in more activity, eat more fruits and vegetables, reduce spending, and prepare more meals at home.  The participants could choose to complete the program on-line through the Goalify App, or to pick up the printed materials at the Johnson County Extension Office.

The Johnson County Extension Service FCS published notifications on its Facebook pages and groups.  During the 10-week program, participants were invited biweekly to drop by the Extension Office to pick up each of the 5“Grab and Go” bags which contained the printed publications provided, recipes, and incentives. Twenty-five took advantage of the program. There were 15 posts share on 4 pages on Facebook had a total engagement of 528 people and reached 4,008 people! Throughout the program there were 141 FCS publications used, 10 plate it up recipes and 6 videos by SNAPed. 

1. Of those who responded to the survey following the program, all reported that they had met their activity Goals.  Four participants reported that they had eaten more fruits and vegetables per day and two reported cooking more meals at home.  One person reported that they had found ways to improve their finances and another reported being more active and improved body mass index.

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When asked which of the publications the participants had found useful, participants replied:

1. Vary your protein sources
2. Managing Stress
3. Physical Activity at Home
4. Importance of Laughter
5. Adding More Vegetables to Your Day
6. Recipes
7. Supporting the Immune System

Participants also responded that they were interested in participating in more programs like this through Extension.