Our post this week is written by guest blogger Tierra Jones, Utah County WIC Educator, and one of the National Nutrition Month grant recipients.
Thank you for awarding Utah County WIC one of the $200 UAND grants!
For National Nutrition Month Utah County WIC employees (52 employees 12 of which are RDs) collected family recipes from one another to form a WICie Cookbook. This cookbook is currently under construction, but these recipes will not only be a benefit to our employees and clients, but these healthy recipes will be available to anyone who visits the Utah County WIC website. In addition to collecting these recipes for the cookbook, we also had a cooking contest where WIC employees were given the opportunity to prepare the recipes in which they submitted. Some of these recipes included a “chainsaw chili”, oatmeal pancakes with applesauce, spinach salad, and seasoned broccoli. The grant money was used to purchase prizes for the cooking contest winners and National Nutrition Month materials for the community. These items were purchased through the NNM catalog.
Elizabeth Nixon, RD preparing Oatmeal Pancakes with an Applesauce Topping.
WIC employees lining up to get their lunch from the items prepared for the cooking contest.
WIC employees enjoying the cooking contest food
WIC staff- Left side: Katrina Smith, Linda Richey Richey (RD- Payson Clinic Manager), Karen Fishback (RD), Right side: Elizabeth Nixon (RD), Stephanie Hundley (Nutritionist), Merridy Bonilla
The three judges from different divisions in the Health Department (to avoid bias) – From left to right Debbie Solen, Sandra Johnson, and PJ Maughan.
In addition to the cookbook and cooking contest Utah County WIC supported National Nutrition Month by putting together a display which was put on view in the Utah County’s Health and Justice Building. This display gave background on National Nutrition Month, simple nutrition tips, easy healthy recipes, tips on “getting one’s plate in shape”, and Sesame Street DVDs which discuss the importance of family meals, fruits and vegetables, trying new foods, and finding healthy foods on a budget. There was a great response from the community and the materials supplied with the display were restocked daily sometimes even twice a day.
Display used in the Health and Justice building which notified the public of National Nutrition Month and gave them an opportunity to learn ways to “get their plates in shape”.
Overall it was a success! Again, thank you for giving us this opportunity to educate staff, WIC clients, and the community.
How did you celebrate NNM at your workplace? Let us know in the comments section below!