Nutrition, Consumer, and Family Services

The Peoria County Office provided multiple

educational programs in the Nutrition, Consumer and

Family Sciences area. This was accomplished due to

people and partners who believed in our educational

programs.

One of those partnerships continued to be with

Rosefield Township. During 2006, over 2,000 copies

of the Rosefield Township Nutrition Notes were distributed

to the citizens of that township. In addition to

the newsletter, Marjorie LaFont also held several

workshops entitled "Heart Healthy Cooking." These

were held in the Rosefield Township building and

were attended by the Rosefield Township citizens.

Other consumer-related programs we offered in

2006 included two series of financial workshops entitled,

"All My Money" and "Your Money, Your Life."

Believing that education is one of our most powerful

tools, our EFNEP (Expanded Food & Nutrition

Education Program) as well as our FNP (Food Stamp

Nutrition Program) touched well over 236,000 people

in Peoria County in 2006.

Just a few EFNEP & FNP numbers to consider:

* EFNEP programs served over 2,000 families

* Monthly nutrition education programs are

provided through FNP to over 300 pre-school

classrooms and almost 5,000 children

* Senior programming is currently conducted at

thirty different sites each month

* FNP & EFNEP staffs work together with

Peoria County Master Gardeners at thirty-five

garden sites reaching 760 youth.

* Over 625 children graduated from the two

summer Chef School classes

* Summer youth programs at 88 sites around the

county, involving over 5,500 youth in the

.Pick A Better Snack. program.

The FNP (Food Stamp Nutrition Program) also continues

to daily impact lives throughout Peoria County

by promoting safe and healthy eating for families on a

budget. FNP teaches nutrition, food safety, food budgeting

and healthy lifestyles.

EFNEP is a nutrition outreach program whose mission

is to improve the health of limited resource youth

and limited resource families with young children

through practical lessons on basic nutrition, resource

management and food safety.

These quotes from participants show the value of

these educational outreaches:

* .My kids didn.t like vegetables. But I learned

new ways to prepare and serve vegetables and now they

are eating vegetables!.

* .I learned what to eat and how to better care

for myself during my pregnancy. I had a healthy, fullterm

baby..

* .I love Chef School. I learned to cook!.

The impactful programs also produce positive outcomes

for the participants and cost savings for the economy

as well.

* More than half of the participants in 2006

improved in nutrition practices

* More than 90 percent of participants increased

servings of fruits and vegetables to their families.

* National studies on EFNEP show that for

every dollar spent to implement the program, up to

$10.64 is saved in health care costs and about $2.48 in

food expenditures.

* EFNEP & FNP staff also work together with

Master Gardeners to provide help at 4-H Gardens

throughout the county, providing meaningful programs

for children from pre-school age to age 19.