une has been a busy month for the EFNEP and SNAP-Ed programs in the Wildcat District! Kids Can Cook is now in full swing, impacting nearly 70-80 kids per week. Kids often come in the first day a little reserved, but by the second and third days, they are running in the door sharing stories about what food they helped prepare the night before at home and asking questions about the upcoming day’s recipes. We have already seen countless kids turn from hesitating about trying a new food to enthusiastically claiming that same food as one of their favorites after taking the chance to try it. The Wildcat District has seven wonderful nutrition assistants helping to make this summer a success. While they are often tired at the end of a long day, I have never seen them without smiles, funny stories and feelings of being rewarded by the kids’ newfound confidence and excitement for being in the kitchen.
Along with four sessions of Kids Can Cook each week, we’ve also squeezed in some additional SNAP-Ed programming this month. We had 12 participants in the “Eat Smart, Live Strong” program at Highland Meadows, a senior living community in Pittsburg. Girard’s summer school invited us back to offer our “Eat Smart, Move More” curriculum to their students where we reached nearly 40 students. We also continue to provide recipes for and recruit participants from local commodity distribution sites and food pantries.
EFNEP programming is more limited over the summer due to all hands being on deck for Kids Can Cook; however, we do continue to offer weekly programming at local mother & infant clinics. In particular, there has been a lot of success at the Montgomery County location and we are consistently enrolling and graduating participants each week. The Wildcat District EFNEP program has also maintained a presence at local community baby showers, recruiting participants and building connections with other area resources.
I had the opportunity to try my hand at some on-air cooking during the KOAM morning show this month and will continue to air a recipe one to two times per month on Tuesday mornings. This will be a great opportunity to promote nutrition through the sharing of healthy, affordable recipes while also promoting upcoming programs and events in the Wildcat District!
J