Growing Healthy Communitites

Serving Bond, Clinton, Jefferson, Marion and Washington Counties

s e i t i n u m m o C y h t l a e H g n i w o Gr Did you know that more than 11% of households in Illinois are considered food insecure?

Food insecurity is limited access to healthy affordable foods due to financial constraints.

Did you know that parts of both Jefferson and Marion Counties are considered food deserts? Food deserts are areas that lack access to affordable, healthy food such as fruits, vegetables, milk, whole grains and other foods, according to the USDA. Both of these issues are faced by members of our local communities each day. Local University of Illinois Extension Offices work with a wide range of community groups to help connect residents to food sources and nutrition education.

Source: Food Research Atlas Date: June 13, 2016 Author: Zaheeda Darvesh

Hoyleton Children’s Home In the Spring of 2015, Ag & Natural Resources Staff, Youth Staff and local Master Gardeners joined forces with the staff, volunteers and students from Hoyleton Children’s Home to create a garden. The garden offered the opportunity for youth to learn about growing their own food and to encourage them to eat healthy.

The garden was a very hands-on educational experience for the youth, and a great opportunity for them to interact with the Master Gardeners. Youth were excited to work the land and see what grew from their efforts. The program was a success and the garden continues this season with plans for expansion.

University of Illinois Extension staff and volunteers were honored to receive a Community Service Award from Hoyleton Ministries for the contributions that have served and improved the lives of the Hoyleton Children’s Home residents. In addition, two Master Gardeners received the Volunteer of the Year Award for their involvement in the garden project.

The garden classroom provides an informal environment for residents to learn garden skills, teamwork, independence, and follow through by watching the garden grow from seed to harvest. Students also learned how to cook and eat the produce they harvested. As an additional sign of the success of the program, one of the residents who helped in the garden received the Resident of the Year Award.

Hydroponics In Schools School lunches are always a hot topic. Working with Ag and Science classes, Extension has been able to start up hydroponics programs in 10 schools in our five-county area. Not only are the students learning about alternative growing methods, but they are also contributing to the lunch menu at their local school.

Produce grown through these programs is being added to salad bars in their school lunch room, driving down the supply cost for the school.

The students learn about a hydroponics system from start to finish, including building the set up that will work best for their classroom space. After finding success with basic hydroponics, some schools are going another step and adding aquaponics to their systems, as well.

An added benefit is that some students translated the school program into something they could build and use at home and have setup hydroponics systems on their own with their families.

SNAP Education Impacts Families The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) works with national, state, and local partners to educate clients about basic nutrition, food safety and food budgeting for limited resource audiences. SNAP programs offered include programs for youth, adults, and seniors. They reach eligible communities in all five of the counties in our Unit.

SNAP community workers provide a variety of different programs.

Organwise Guys is offered to students in kindergarten through second grade to teach youth about eating healthy. It demonstrates to children how eating healthy will impact their bodies. Students learn about their different organs and how they function, how to make healthy food choices, importance of physical activity and drinking water, and how they may all be different on the outside but are still the same on the inside.

The Great Garden Detective Adventure is offered to 3rd and 4th grades. It is an interactive program that takes youth through a series of investigations connecting the school garden to the classroom, school cafeteria and their homes. Although The Great Garden Detective Adventure is designed to use with a school garden, the lessons are adaptable. Schools are able to use container gardens or other techniques to participate.

In addition to school programs, SNAP staff members provide community-based adult programs through partnerships with WIC offices, Public Housing, and Food Pantries. Programs offered to adults include: Eating Smart, Being Active; MyPlate for My Family; Eat Smart, Live Strong; and walk-by educational displays.

Cooking Schools are also offered annually in the summer for area youth between the ages of eight and twelve. They are hugely popular, with some sessions filling almost as soon as the flyers are distributed. Last year more than 300 youth participated in cooking schools in the five-county area.

The schools are aimed at teaching youth to prepare simple healthy meals and learn basic cooking skills.

Helping Your Local Food Pantries Illini Fighting Hunger is a program that packages meals for food pantries. The meals are rice-based, and have a long shelf life. The simple ingredients offer a wide variety of menu adaptations and are simple to prepare.

Illini Fighting Hunger came to our area for the first time this year. The ability of volunteers to package a large number of meals in a short amount of time makes it a very helpful program for our local food pantries. The program was such a success in our area that it has already been scheduled for next year and will be an annual program.

There are other ways Extension helps local food pantries, and their clients, as well. Area community gardens that are run by Extension volunteers donate part of their produce to their local food pantries each year.

In addition, Extension staff members visit local food pantries to provide educational programs for clients.

The programs teach clients about eating healthy, stretching grocery budgets, and preparing the foods provided from the food pantry.

Washington County Extension was instrumental in bringing The Mobile Market to Nashville working with student volunteers from St. Ann school and Nashville FFA to staff the food pantry when it comes to the area. Being a primarily rural county, with limited food pantry services available, The Mobile Market has been very well-received in the community. The Mobile Market was brought to the area by St. Louis Area Foodbank. Local youth and adult volunteers provide hands-on help on market day once a month.

Education at Farmers Markets As people become more interested in eating food that is produced locally, the popularity of farmers markets has grown, too. Markets are a great educational opportunity for the public. Extension staff visited local farmers markets on a regular basis the last two years providing nutritional education, recipe ideas and samples of things that can be made with produce available at the market.

University of Illinois Extension

Serving Bond, Clinton, Jefferson, Marion & Washington 1404 E Main, RT 50 East Salem, IL 62881 618-548-1446

University of Illinois Extension/USDA/Local Extension Councils Cooperating University of Illinois Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment.