McCulloch County Hunger Coalition in Collaboration with Texas A&M AgriLife: Supporting students to make healthy, affordable meals at home utilizing a crockpot
Founded: 2020
Leadership: Integrated, shared leadership- facilitation rotates between the representatives of member organizations
Action Teams: Food Delivery and Distribution
Recognizing the importance of teaching nutrition at an early age, McCulloch County Hunger Coalition has been collaborating with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Services to teach local elementary students (2nd-5th graders) how to make simple and nutritious meals with a crockpot through the Kids Crockin project. This project also aims to support low-income students to gain the knowledge and skills to make healthy, affordable meals at home. Kids Crockin started at the beginning of 2021 and has since supported 27 Brady Elementary students. Kids Crockin hopes to expand the project, knowing that in McCulloch County, 28% of children live in poverty and 65% of children qualify for free and reduced lunches and there are many more students and families that could benefit.
Participants in this project learn how to safely use knives and identify the type of food that belongs to the different parts of MyPlate. The project also encourages participants to actively help with house chores. Children’s gift bags are used as incentives to motivate children to complete and report what house chores they have done during classes. With the generous financial support from Sara’s Shared Dream: Feeding McCulloch County, the 27 participants were able to take home their very own crockpot at the end of the class.
Moving forward, McCulloch County Hunger Coalition and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension hope to expand the project through increased collaboration with the school system and Sara’s Shared Dream. They hope to expand the scope of the project to the local middle school as well, thereby helping more children in need. With more sponsorship from Sara’s Shared Dream, McCulloch County Hunger Coalition and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension also envision having a cooking and nutrition program for parents, teaching them food safety and simple nutritious family meal recipes. 21% of adults under the age of 65 live in poverty in McCulloch County.
To learn more, contact Jacque Behrens– County Extension Agent-Family and Community Health, or Angelina Deans– Sara’s Shared Dream, Feeding McCulloch County Director
Author: Zane Peng
4/1/2021
