Texas Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences

After attending the session on wreath-making in Lubbock, Lorrie Coop brought the program back and conducted a class for county employees focusing on holiday decorating. Thirteen people participated in the first class and two more classes have been filled for January, 2014.

On Friday, December 13th, District 4 EAFCS members enjoyed morning refreshments at The Sanford House Inn & Spa in Arlington along with professional development sessions about the March of Dimes 39-weeks Promotion and CFP Ellen Timberlake’s overview of The Money Times of Your Life.

New Agents in District 5!

Newton County – Cathy Pearson

Cathy Pearson was named the Newton County Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent.  Cathy has an extensive background within Family and Consumer Sciences and has great plans for programming in Newton County!

Panola County – Vickie Lacy

Vickie Lacy was named the Panola County Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent.  Vickie has worked with Extension in the past and comes back with many new ideas and plans for her community!

Tyler County – Jennifer Page

Effective October 1, Jennifer Page was named the Tyler County Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent.  Jennifer has a Bachelor and Master of Education from Stephen F. Austin State University. She has taught in the public school system and recently worked for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.  District 5 is excited to have Jennifer as a co-worker!

Shelby County – Jheri-Lynn Smith

Effective December 2, Jheri-Lynn Smith was named the Shelby County Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent.  Jheri-Lynn comes to Extension with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Texas A&M University, a Master of Science in Education from Baylor University and a Master of Science in Horticulture from Texas Tech University.  She is excited to assist the community in Shelby County!

Polk County – Emily Rice 

Effective October 1, Emily Rice was named the Polk County Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agent.  Emily has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Stephen F. Austin University.  She will be an excellent addition to District 5!

Rusk County – Liz Buckner

Members of the Rusk County Step Up and Scale Down Class IV pose for their group graduation photo on Veteran’s Day 2013.  These participants also participated in the Rusk County Step Up and Scale Down/East Texas Medical Center Diabetes Education 5K and Fun Walk as the grand finale of the program series.

Members of the Rusk County Step Up and Scale Down/L.E.A.N. Coalition met with the Commissioners’ Court to share program successes for the 2013 year.

We also wish Wendi Green the best in her retirement. She has been the agent in Cherokee county and will be retiring in February.

Happy New Year everyone!  I’d like to introduce myself.  I’m Karen DeZarn, your President-elect.  I’m the FCS and 4-H agent in Lampasas County (District 7).  I’ve worked for extension for 20 years and for AgriLife for 4 years.  I’m very excited to be a part of the TEAFCS board.  I’ve met some wonderful people and hope to give back to our great organization.  I’d like to encourage you to think about being an officer.  Those needed are President Elect, 1st Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.  Being an officer does take some time, but the rewards are well worth it.  Please give me, Dianne or any of the current officers a call if you have any questions. My number is 512-556-8271.  There are also some national committees that need members.  Let’s be sure Texas and the southern region is represented at the national level.  Check these out on the national website. http://www.neafcs.org/committees  Let’s pay it forward in the new year.

The District 7 FCS agents met in Sweet Water on  December 17th.  They celebrated the Holidays with a cookie and ornament exchange.  They are keeping busy with the following programs and activities: Janet Nelson – Coleman Co. – Diabetes Texas Style One-day program and a Cooking School utilizing the Texas Style recipes, Kathy Aycock – Tom Green Co. – Multi-County FPM – 2 classes and 4 classes of Food Handlers.  They’ve had a 93% pass rate!!, Linda Wells – Burnet Co. – Friend to Friend,  new TEEA  club and the new District Director is from her county, meetings re: multi-county Dinner Tonight sponsored by Scott & White will include Burnet, Llano and Lampasas, Karen DeZarn – Lampasas Co. – BLT partnership with Adult Probation, Friend to Friend Event, Jan Yanez – Coke/Sterling Cos.- FPM, Food Handlers, Dinner Tonight, Spotlight on Smokeless Tobacco, The Land Expo coming up, FRED, Tasha Baxter – Nolan Co. – reported about the Texas Tech grant in the collegiate school in Roscoe,  this has broadened the number of 4-H projects/leaders. Judy Gully – RPL – D7 FCS is fully staffed – recruit for D6 5 positions open. The group divided into clusters to rotate hosting future meetings.  We are working on a newsletter to share district wide.  We voted to give Ashley Piercy, Scurry Co. FCS agent $100 to help her after the fire.

Grimes County Back to School Health & Safety Day

The Back to School Health and Safety Day Event is to support needy families in Grimes County. The Grimes County community has an extremely large population of limited resource families. $15.9% of the   Families in Grimes County live in poverty. Often these children begin school with limited or no school supplies. Although there are many resources and service available throughout the county that assists needy families many of these families are unaware of the available resources and services that they offer.

The Cooperative Extension Program through Prairie View A& M University designed the Back to School Health and Safety Day event in order to assist families in preparing for the new school year. The event was held at the Grimes County Fair Grounds. The Back to School Health and Safety Day Event provides families with an opportunity to receive the basic school supplies for the new school year.

More than 300 bags of school supplies were issued to school age participants. Each bag was valued at $12.00 each. Participants were also introduced to many of the available county resources agencies and had the opportunity to learn about their services. The participants were engaged in workshops about Bullying and Packing a Cost Effective Lunch. One participant stated that, she was so glad that this event was being conducted, because she had no idea on how she was going to get supplies for 5 children. The health fair participants were not only given school supplies for the upcoming school year, but they also received health screenings, glucose screenings, spinal screenings, and vision screenings.