Service Providers Learn About New Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program

 

On Wednesday, December 12, new Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) Coordinator Brooke Walker met with over 20 school employees, local service providers, and interested citizens to discuss how the community can take advantage of the recently launched nutrition program.  At the meeting, Brooke shared that the program teaches low income families how to make nutritious meals while on a budget.  It features six fun lessons for families: (1) Your Food, Your Choice; (2) Stress-Free Mealtimes;  (3) Color Me Healthy; (4) Winning Ways with Fast Food;  (5) Keep Yourself Well; and (6) Keep your Health Out of Jeopardy.  At the end of the class, participants get a certificate and a cook book. 


Brooke Walker discusses the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).

Meeting participants discussed how EFNEP can best impact local families.  The group discussed hosting the program, which can be held at any location, at different facilities in the area that will be the most convenient for local residents to attend the lessons.  They also discussed obstacles that some families have, such as transportation and childcare, and how their organizations might be able to assist with those obstacles. 

Brooke stated that, if asked, she will offer presentations to groups such as Rotary and Kiwanis to inform residents of EFNEP and the benefits of attending the lessons.  She also mentioned that EFNEP will be hiring a full-time, bilingual paraprofessional this spring.  

Local organizations discuss EFNEP.

Dalton-Whitfield County was selected as an EFNEP site after the Archway Partnership Prenatal to Pre-K work group identified nutrition and its impact on early brain development as a key issue facing the community’s birth to age five population.  Following those meetings and a presentation by UGA faculty member Gail Hanula regarding EFNEP, UGA’s Whitfield County Cooperative Extension Service and the Whitfield County WIC program entered into an innovative partnership to launch the program in Whitfield County.  In October, Brooke, a registered dietician, was hired to lead EFNEP in Dalton-Whitfield to address these issues.

EFNEP classes can be offered at any site in the community and requires a class of 3-20 participants.  If your organization would like to host the classes or you would like more information on EFNEP, contact Brooke at: brooke1@uga.edu