I am volunteering for OperationFrontline which is essentially nutrition, cooking, budget planning and grocery shopping classes and then in the spring I hope to help set up their inner-city gardens and mini-Farmer's Markets.
I'm so excited to find a charity that is doing EXACTLY what I have had in mind - that poor people need to eat healthfully and save money (on groceries as well as good nutrition since preventative health care always saves $). Maybe I'm an oddball because I don't believe throwing $$ at a problem is always the answer. What better way to walk the talk than "teach a man how to fish" if you know what I mean.
This article is Durham-centric and was published in this past Sunday's Herald Sun
but the program with whom I'm volunteering in Raleigh is the same:
Ingredients: one chef, one dietitian, one class assistant and many hungry participants.
Through healthy cooking classes taught by volunteer professionals, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, in partnership with Share Our Strength's Operation Frontline, is cooking up a simple recipe for a healthier Durham.
Operation Frontline's classes teach healthy eating, food shopping and budgeting, and basic cooking skills.
"We give participants education on eating healthy, and education on how to do that, and then we give them recipes to put that in to practice," said Katherine Andrew, the Food Shuttle's nutritionist.
Local residents could use the advice.
According to a survey of 310 Durham residents by the N.C. State Center for Health Statistics, 64 percent of adults in Durham were overweight or obese in 2007. People at or near the poverty line are at a higher risk for developing nutritional deficiencies and obesity.
The economic cost of the unhealthy lifestyles of some Durham county adults is more than $347 million annually, according to a February 2008 study by Be Active North Carolina, Inc. The study predicts that this number will climb to $487 by 2011 if current trends continue. Costs from unhealthy lifestyles include medical expenses from obesity-related diseases, such as type-2 diabetes.
Offered once a week, the classes last four to six weeks. In a typical class, students will have a nutrition lesson and then prepare their own healthy recipes under the direction of a chef. After each class, students leave with a grocery bag of ingredients, such as canned goods and vegetables, to make some of the recipes they learned.
Classes follow the same basic model but come in several different varieties based on the population group served. Classes are offered for adults, teenagers, teen parents, children and families.
Kids Up Front classes teach children age 8-12 basic cooking skills, nutrition information and food-safety advice. In a national survey of 1,207 participants, 73 percent said they learned at least one new thing about nutrition, and 89 percent said they learned at least one new thing about cooking.
"I enjoyed seeing the kids pleasantly surprised at how good healthy food can taste," one Kids Up Front instructor said.
A recent Kids Up Front class was offered at the Campus Hill Recreation Center in Northern Durham. Volunteers taught the class to children who were enrolled in the after-school program at the center.
Chef Beverly Tucker taught the children about the "claw" grip. When cutting vegetables, grasp them with your fingers curled inward, so the tips of your fingers are not exposed, she said.
Eating Right classes teach low-income adults how to prepare healthy meals on a limited budget. In a national survey of 1,870 participants, 77 percent reported eating more vegetables at the end of the course and 72 percent reported eating more fruits. And 99 percent said they would recommend Eating Right to a friend.
Classes provide adults with a social setting where they can learn about eating healthy and budgeting for food.
"We do a lot of food-resource management," Andrew said. "Once they know how to budget for food, it frees up money for other things."
An upcoming Eating Right class will be offered at Urban Ministries, a faith-based community shelter and kitchen in downtown Durham.
Operation Frontline courses were first offered in Durham in April. The program is expanding its offerings locally to meet a growing demand.
"There is definitely a bigger demand once people know about the classes," Andrew said. "We have a pretty high interest among adults."
© 2009 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved.
BY KAITLYN JONGKIND : The Herald-Sun
I'm posting the full article because HeraldSun online is a subscription-only newspaper.
Feb 15, 2009
