Leon County FCH Focus Newslettercounties.agrilife.org/leon/files/2020/01/Winter... · seminar on...

Winter 2020

Leon County FCH Focus Newsletter

We are officially in the

winter season, despite

how unseasonable warm

it has been at times! With

the new year here, let’s

strive to make 2020 a

great year! Find ways to

improve your own life,

but also remember to en-

rich the lives of others.

Please enjoy and make

use of this newsletter. As

usual, we have a lot go-

ing on, so check it all out!

I look forward to your

feedback. Feel free to

contact our office if you

have any questions.

Try these kitchen timesavers to cut back on time and

make less work for you. By taking the stress and hassle out

of cooking, you’ll have more time to enjoy it and to spend

with your loved ones.

• Organize your kitchen. Keep frequently used items

such as cooking oils/sprays, spatulas, cutting boards,

and spices within easy reach. This will save you from

having to search for them later.

• Clear the clutter. Before you start cooking, clear off

your counters. This allows more room for prep space.

• Chop extra. When chopping up veggies for a meal,

chop more than you need. Take the extra, place in a re-

usable container and freeze. Then next time you need it,

you can skip a step.

• Have everything in place. Grab all ingredients needed

for your meal – chopped vegetables, measured spices,

and thawed meats. It will be easier to spot missing items

and avoid skipping steps.

• Double your recipe. For your next casserole or stew, try

doubling the recipe and freezing the extra. You’ll save

time and make cooking next week’s dinner a snap!

• Clean as you go. Fill up the sink with soapy water and

wash the dishes as you cook. It’ll make clean up go

much smoother!

• Save some for later. Freeze leftover soups, sauces, or

gravies in small reusable containers. Source: choosemyplate.gov

Winter 2020

Color in the Landscape

& Organic Gardening

Sat., March 28th, 10:00 am-12:00 noon

BoBo’s Nursery


Souper Bowl of Caring empowers youth and unites communities around the time of the Big

Game to help those in need. Since 1990, young people have been leading the charge and inspiring others to collect food and money in the weeks leading up to the Big Game. These groups give

100% of donations to local food pantries, changing the nation's largest weekend of football into the largest weekend of caring. Find out more at http://souperbowl.org.

A big thanks to Cen-terville Elementary 6th grade students and teachers as well as local 4-H mem-bers for helping with produce distribution.

We continue to provide the monthly “Nutrition Know How” newsletter (in both Eng-

lish and Spanish) to all pantries to distribute to more than 350 visitors. You can view

newsletter issues at http://leon.agrilife.org, under the newsletter tab. Have a sugges-

tion for something to include in the monthly newsletter, please let me know.

Looking to donate to a local pantry? Maybe you are interested in volunteering? Check out the list and map of the 9 pantries that serve resi-dents of Leon County: http://leon.agrilife.org. The next meeting of our Leon County Food Pantry Coalition will be Fri., Feb. 21st, at 1 pm, at Annex 1 in Centerville. We are working on plans for county-wide food/money drives, so please join us to see how you can get involved. Volunteers are also greatly appreciated at the first Friday produce distribution at Annex 1. Once the East Texas Food Bank truck gets unloaded, help is needed to sort and bag items. The time is a bit flexible—depending on when the truck ar-rives, but 9:30 am-2 pm is generally when help is needed. Thank you!

Leon County Food Pantries

Program Highlights & Information

http://souperbowl.org

http://leon.agrilife.org


Winter 2020


EE Members End Year on High Note



A grand time was had by all during the County EE Christmas

Luncheon last month! In addition to great entertainment, members

collected toys and $325 in cash/gift cards for the Child Welfare

Board. A big thanks to all of them!

We had 15 local members participate in the District EEA Fall

Leadership Training in November in Bellmead. And we continue to

wish our very own Nyanza Price, Clara Jones and Marcia Wallace

the best as they serve on the state board.

What is EE? As part of the Texas Extension Education Association

(TEEA), EE clubs meet regularly to conduct business, learn from ed-

ucational programs and conduct community service. These activities strengthen our community

by providing information that focuses on family, education and service. Come participate in

monthly club meetings, and enjoy fun and fellowship while we learn. Members also have oppor-

tunities to participate in trainings and take on roles at the county, district and state levels.

Here’s info on our 4 EE clubs:

• Jewett - meets 2nd Mon., 10 am

• Leona/Centerville - meets 2nd Tue., 10 am

• Normangee - meets 3rd Wed., 10 am

• Oakwood - meets 3rd Mon.,6 pm

Please contact our office for more details.

EE Member Contributions

Jan.-Nov. 2019:

11,293 volunteer hours

$318,439.97 value of service

and donations

Leona-Centerville EE club members provided entertain-ment during the county EE Christmas Party. Not pictured is Pam Groba who provided a fun performance as well.

Local EE members enjoyed the fall training in Bellmead.

Winter 2020


A big thanks to our committee members! Our group meets 4 times a

year to oversee FCH programs in Leon County. Their input and guid-

ance enriches our program, and ensures we are addressing critical is-

sues.

A reminder to our members that our next meeting is set for Thur.,

Feb. 6th, 10 am, Extension office.

Please see the flyer for our upcoming Kitchen Appliances & Gadgets

seminar on page 5. Look for info on other seminars in upcoming issues

of this newsletter.

FCH Advisory Committee

Better Living for Texans (BLT) is

a nutrition education program for

SNAP-eligible adults and children.

BLT helps people make healthy

meals, improve their physical fit-

ness, save money on food, grow

their own foods, and adopt better

food safety habits.

Just contact our office if you are

Interested in scheduling a program.

FSHY participants enjoyed a delicious parfait after covering food safety tips.

We kicked off our “A Fresh Start to a Healthier You” series on January 3rd, in conjunction with the first Friday produce distribution in Centerville. Join us for sessions 2, 3 and 4 that are set for Feb. 7th, March 6th and April 3rd, 10:30-11:15 am. Participants will be exploring MyPlate, discovering shopping tips, making and sampling healthy dishes and taking home great resources!

Diabetes rates in Leon County are high, so

we are working on plans for a half-day work-

shop, followed by a 5-week series to focus on

managing diabetes or pre-diabetes for better

health. These are being planned for the spring,

so be looking for all the details very soon.


We have many

valuable yet free

resources we can

provide within classrooms. Below are a few

program opportunities, so please contact

Cassie at 903-536-2531 or Cas-

[email protected] to inquire

and/or schedule these and other programs.

Welcome to the Real World! (WTTRW!) - Program consists of 2 parts: financial edu-cation and real world expenditure decision-making opportunities. Real World is an ac-tive, hands-on program that gives young people the opportunity to explore careers and make lifestyle and spending choices similar to those faced by adults. Geared toward high school, but could also be used at the upper junior high level.

Hatching in the Classroom - Incubating and hatching chicken eggs is a hands-on learning experience that’s great for stu-dents in all grades. Students learn biologi-cal concepts and develop a deeper under-standing of the life sciences. Basic skills could include data measurement, collec-

tion, and analysis while higher level experi-ments teach complex systems such as nu-trition and the circulatory system. Science - We have a variety of hands-on science activities focusing on a variety of areas such as rocketry, wind energy and robotics. Nutrition - Students of all ages can explore MyPlate, food safety and food prep. Hand-washing - Take a closer look at your hands to discover where germs hide out and develop good hand-washing practices, which reduces your risks of getting sick!!

School Programs


Centerville 6th graders

completed 4-part nutri-

tion program, concluded

with a “Quick Fire Food

Challenge, in which

they created dishes and

presented them to their

classmates.

4-H2O Volunteer Training Thur., Jan. 30, 1:30-5 pm

Interested in helping with our youth water education program? Please join us for this training. Experience the sessions that teach 3rd graders about water, its importance and how it can be conserved and protected. Please call to sign up at 903-536-2531.

If we had no winter, the

spring would not be so

pleasant: if we did not

sometimes taste of

adversity, prosperity

would not be so

welcome.

Anne Bradstreet

We are gearing up for our

Youth Water Fairs,

so Cassie is making contact

with 3rd grade teachers to

set dates.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Winter 2020


4-H Food Challenge - transforming ingredients into a dish, and then pre-senting it to a panel of judges.

Many of our 4-H’ers have been busy over the last several months preparing for this event, which is taking place at the Leon County Expo Center. Come enjoy some livestock exhibits and join us for the auction on Friday evening. Visit http://leon.agrilife.org (click on Leon Co. Livestock Show) for more details.

Our 4-H clubs have had a busy year

so far. We have 5 active 4-H clubs

across Leon County who meet monthly

and participate in a variety of activities.

Our Leon County 4-H’ers did very well

at the District 8 4-H Food contest in Bel-

ton last month with 8 top 5 awards, a

state qualifying senior team, and 1

Team Spirit Award.

Spring is just around the corner and

that means our 4-H’ers will be busy with

a variety of projects. Our County 4-H

Roundup, which includes fashion, pub-

lic speaking/performance arts and

photography contests, is set for Tue.,

March 17th, in Buffalo. We wish all of

our 4-H’ers the best with their spring

projects and contests!! Visit http://

leon.agrilife.org to learn more about

opportunities 4-H has to offer.





http://fch.tamu.edu

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service -

Leon County

Laura Petty

County Extension Agent

Family & Community Health

Leon County

PO Box 188

Centerville, TX 75833

903-536-2531

903-536-3804 (fax)

[email protected]


Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Family and Community Health (FCH) unit helps Texans better their lives through science-based educational programs designed to improve the

overall health and wellness of individuals, families, and communities.

Educational programs of the Texas

A&M AgriLife Extension Service are

open to all people without regard to

race, color, religion, sex, national

origin, age, disability, genetic infor-

mation or veteran status.

The Texas A&M University System,

U.S. Department of Agriculture, and

the County Commissioners Courts of

Texas Cooperating

Visit http://www.co.leon.tx.us and click on the “Code Red” icon to regis-

ter your phone number to receive alerts. You can also stay informed

about local emergencies at http://www.facebook.com/LeonCountyEM.

Census Meeting Mon., Jan. 13th, 6:30 pm

3rd floor of Annex 2 in Centerville Leon County is preparing for an important event that

will impact elections, grant monies and future community

projects—the 2020 US Census. Judge Ryder is hosting

this public information meeting, so make plans to attend.

Contact Leon Co. Emergency Management Coordination

Jim Carrigan at 903-536-4407 or 979-255-9668 for info.

Winter, a lingering season, is a time

to gather golden moments, embark

on a sentimental journey, and enjoy

every idle hour.

John Boswell

Set your hook into a fun day

at Fort Boggy State Park!

Kid Fish - Sat., Feb. 29th Come join us for a fun day of fish-

ing at our Annual Kid Fish Day!

Online registration takes place Feb.

8th-23rd. There will be 3 sessions:

8:30 to 11:00 am

11:30 to 2:00 pm

2:30 to 5:00 pm

Loaner equipment and bait provided for partici-

pants. Parent or guardian must accompany each

child. No more than 2 children per adult! Up to 300

free rod 'n' reels to be given away! Park entry fee is

$3.00 for ages 13 and up. 12 and under get in free.

Visit http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/fort-

boggy/park_events for more info.

Community Happenings

https://www.co.leon.tx.us/

http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/fort-boggy/park_events

http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/fort-boggy/park_events

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