Success Stories

Andrews County - In coordination with parenting classes and BLT (Better Living for Texans) nutrition training, a young unmarried couple with 4 children that were taken away by Child Protective Services will soon be reunited as a family. This young couple has now married as a result of the encouragement of parenting classes and the nutrition program. They will soon be getting the children back in the home. The couple became more aware of good nutrition for the children to keep them healthy and emotionally stable as the result of the parenting skills they learned. This low-income couple is very eager to share their skills in parenting and nutrition in future classes. Tracy Lowry

Ward County - In the Fall of 2000, a friend who works for the Texas Tech Rural Clinic asked me to present a nutrition program to a group of junior high age girls that get together regularly at the Boys & Girls Club in Monahans Although attendance fluctuates, this group is composed of 3 black girls and 13 Hispanic girls. The first program was on the Food Guide Pyramid. The girls had a bit of prior knowledge about the pyramid, but I was able to fill in the blanks. The second program I did was on choosing healthy snacks that were easy to prepare. All the girls had a great time measuring and blending. They were surprised and pleased to find out peanut butter was good for them and tasted great with an apple slice. Plans are in the works to have some clothing activities in the spring and summer. There are a number of possibilities! Abigail Pritchard

Glasscock County - Safety issues are a major concern for residents in rural areas. With many children staying at home alone while parents are in the fields or other areas working, there was a need for a safety education program. A Safety Day Education Event was planned in cooperation with Glasscock County School and other interested parties. Grades K-6 were walked through 20 minute interactive situations covering 911, farm safety, insect safety, poison/chemical safety, and home safety. Home safety which I taught was about the safety of using kitchen appliances (microwave, stove, electricity, etc.), computers, answering the telephone or door when at home alone, and food safety. At least 17 volunteers helped directly with the different stations while another 11 volunteers helped with the organization program criteria, and scheduling. Of the school children, 163 with the ages 5-14 were reached. Of these 163 children, 58 were Hispanic, and 105 were Caucasian. Several parents also attended with younger siblings. Before leaving, I handed out pamphlets printed in English and Spanish for both children and their parents to read later dealing with all of these subjects. Faculty at school felt that the program met educational needs of the students and offered requests/suggestions for next year. Shirley Weeks

Brewster County - Two interest groups were formed in Brewster County in 2000. The Extension Education Garden Group began meeting in June on a monthly basis with a total of 54 attending the programs. I received a Master Gardener training January to June 2000 and feel comfortable working on programs and/or finding resources for programming. The public library has ordered a lot of gardening books that I have recommended and circulation has been good. The public library also provided the meeting room. Sometimes in good weather we use the patio at the library. The Extension Education Interest Group has met periodically all year. Topics vary including nutrition, health, diabetes information, and health cards to be used to record information during the routine health checkup. We do a craft activity following the program. During the year, attendance has reached 200 including an adult male, Hispanic and Anglo females. Jane L. Sager

Crane County - During the year 2000, we implemented the Walk Across Texas in Crane County, especially targeting our Better Living for Texans clientele. During the 8 weeks, participants attended weekly programs covering such topic as planning menus, making meals from basic ingredients, serving sizes, stretching food dollars, and basic food safety. A mail-out series was also developed to supplement these classes and to provide information to those who were unable to attend. We had 64 individuals participate, including the targeted audience as well as business people and elected officials. Some teams were comprised of whole families making a commitment to walk together. Angel Walls

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