Helping Food Stamp Recipients Eat Better

Sue Butkus and her colleagues in WSU Cooperative Extension take nutrition education to those in Washington who need it most: Federal Food Stamp recipients.

"We provide culturally sensitive, hands-on, very practical nutrition education for food stamp recipients," says Butkus, a Cooperative Extension nutrition specialist based in Puyallup who oversees the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program. "Since these folks are stretching their food dollars the farthest and have limited access to education, there are great potential benefits."

Since its inception in 1991, the program has grown dramatically. Working with organizations such as Head Start, and with community groups in clinics, churches, and schools, Cooperative Extension educators in 11 counties teach teenage mothers, unemployed timber workers, migrant families, and, with great success, school-age children the basic elements of good nutrition and how to shop for and fix healthy, low-budget meals. In 1996 alone, more than 6,000 individuals received personal guidance either in their homes or in other small group settings, while more than 9,700 individuals were contacted in other ways, through schools or written materials.

"We are the nutrition education people," said Butkus. "WSU is the only university in the state doing community education at the ground level. And we do continuous research, looking at how much change we're making."

The research indicates that Butkus and her staff of 11 educators statewide are having an impact. Among the more than 6,000 participants served in 1996, 70 percent said they either saved money or made their money go farther and were eating a more nutritious diet because of what they learned.

"I made up some Master Mix and Magic Mix (batter) at the beginning of the month like you told us to do," said one teenage mother of three pre-schoolers. "At the end of the month there was nothing in the house to eat, and the money was gone. I remembered the mixes and made soup and biscuits. The kids liked it."

Cooperative Extension has provided nutrition education programs to low-income communities for years. But reductions in federal funding to programs in recent years prompted Butkus and her colleagues to reevaluate the best possible use of their expertise and teaching. They decided to target the program to a broader section of people and take it statewide. Funds provided by USDA Food and Consumer Service and the Department of Social and Health Services are matched one-to-one by WSU. n

— Mary Gresch