EFNEP Sussex County Nutrition Camps

• Olivia Fox, Food Science, University of Delaware

• Wanda Taylor, Nutrition, University of Delaware

EFNEP Sussex County Nutrition Camps

This summer I served as the EFNEP Health and Wellbeing Cooperative Extension Scholar for Sussex County Delaware. In this role, I had the responsibility of co-teaching nutrition education classes to children with my mentor(s) to promote healthy eating and lifestyles. A few of the activities we participated in to achieve our goal was creating a healthy snack related to the lesson each day and incorporate physical activity into the lesson. For every class a curriculum was followed, we primarily taught Kids in the Kitchen which was geared towards children 6-12 years old. In addition, I was able to preform my own food access assessment for a low-income housing complex called Chandler Heights which benefits from the assistance of a community initiative titled SCOH (Seaford Community of Hope). SCOH helps residents receive the assistance they need to life fulfilled lives. With my food access assessment I have determined that this community is in need of more funding and resources to promote healthy eating and lifestyles. For example, the food pantry has extremely limited stock and hours due to understaffing. This is one issue that can be solved with additional funding. My time with Cooperative Extension has been very eye-opening and has allowed me to envision myself in many different shoes for future careers. This is especially due to the shadowing opportunities that were orchestrated by one of my mentors Nancy Mears. Without funding by SNAP-ED for SCOH the residents of Chandler Heights would not have access to the resources that benefit them today.