Success Stories - Lake County
Lake County Success Stories
Consumer and Family Sciences Department
The Youth Family Nutrition Program is delivered to low income youth to help teach nutrition, food safety, and physical activity using a series of lessons from Exploring MyPyramid With Professor Popcorn. A total of 14,883 youth were reached with direct education in 2007-2008. Youth reported the following: 83 percent of youth reported that they practiced one or more healthy food selection habits, at least most days of the week; 97 percent of youth reported that they sometimes or almost always practiced one or more food safety habits; 94 percent of youth reported that they practiced healthy physical activity habits, at least most days of the week. In addition, 87 percent of youth reported that they chose to eat breakfast, at least most days of the week.
Agriculture and National Resources/HORT Department
This year 671 calls were taken by either Master Gardeners or the Horticulture Educator from homeowners regarding plants. Everyone had various problems ranging from improper planting of trees, to insect issues. More people are trying to care for landscapes and gardens when they may not have had past experiences to rely upon. The Master Gardener Class, which lasts for 14 weeks, was offered to 36 individuals to educate them in basic gardening skills in order to help themselves and others. During the class, participants received information on Soil and Plant Science and Nutrition, Plant Diseases, Insect Management, Woody and Herbaceous Ornamentals, and Landscape Principles. At the end of the class, 100 percent of the class showed an increase from the pre-test to the post-test. This shows that the entire class had an increase of awareness in diagnosing plant disease and insects issues and in proper maintenance and landscape practices. A comment from the class was: "I am very glad to have been a part of the class and feel the benefits will be everlasting."
Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
EFNEP served 244 limited income families in Lake County by teaching them to stretch their food dollars and choose a healthy diet and lifestyle. Upon graduating from the program, 59 percent more often reported using the "Nutrition Facts" food label to make food choices. Fifty-three percent more often planned meals in advance, and 51 percent more often used a grocery list for shopping to help limit total dollars spent. Additionally, 35 percent reported that their children ate breakfast more often, 50 percent more often prepared foods without adding salt, and 60 percent more often followed the recommended practice of not thawing foods at room temperature. It has been estimated that for every $1.00 spent to implement EFNEP, $2.48 is saved on food expenditures by participants.
4/H Youth Development
Here in Lake County one of our many success stories is our Agricultural Awareness Days. This past spring there were a lot of questions posed about if and when we were going to continue this program. Due to the fact that I was still fairly new at the time, the verdict was "NO". I did not want a successful yet traditional program to go down the drain due to my "NEWNESS". I was all for working hard to make this program happen. Ag Awareness Days is when many volunteers come together and have stations around a huge building at the Fairgrounds. The stations consist of many different agricultural, educational, and fun learning information. Most of our stations have the basic farm animals, such as, swine, cows, horses, goats, chickens, and much more. The youth really enjoy the time spent at every station. This is also a good time to promote Purdue Extension as a whole. Ag Awareness Days is one of our best programs that reached such a diverse population. Our office, in collaboration with Farm Bureau, mails out numerous letters to schools all around Lake County to invite them to come out. This year we had a total of 776 students and 37 teachers which all came from 14 schools. We also got the letters out later than usual but for the future this is something our office is going to continue so we will have the letters out on time to get a lot more participants.
Economic Community Development
We held two all-day Local Food Expos in March 2007. These were the first events of their kind in Indiana. The expos, designed to be educational as well as provide networking opportunities, brought together individuals and representatives from businesses and organizations with an interest in promoting local foods. Educational components of the program included presentations by experts on specialty marketing, building a local foods network, as well as initiatives currently happening in the region. Both events incorporated networking time and activities; the Northwest event included a trade-show-style display component with booths, samples, and vendors.
