The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
(Vol. 16 No. 17)
IN THIS ISSUE...
BENCHMARKING YOUR SUCCESS
Attend this training and the next time that someone wants to know about the impact of your local PRIDE program, you will have all the information that you need to highlight the importance of your PRIDE work to your community. This training is for all PRIDE communities and we encourage each community to send a delegation to participate in one of the following trainings, which will be presented by Trudy Rice and/or Jeanne Stinson from the Kansas PRIDE program.
March 29 in Lenora, Ks at the Lenora Library
April 5 in Perry, Ks at the Perry American Legion Building
April 12 in Larned, Ks at the J.A. Haas Exhibit Building
April 15 in Humboldt, Ks at the Humboldt Library
April 19 in Park City, Ks at the Park City PRIDE Building
Note: All trainings will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Buildings will be open at 5:30 with refreshments available. The meeting will start promptly at 6 p.m.
During the training you will learn how to collect the information you need to tell the story of your PRIDE program to the people who need to know. Everyone will go home with a 'tight, bright, and to the point' message about the importance of PRIDE to your community as well as knowledge on how to collect the right information and who to share it with. The ability to tell your story to the right people will enhance your community's ability to access outside resources.
For reservations, please e-mail PRIDE@ksu.edu or call the Kansas PRIDE office at 785-532-5840. Addresses and driving directions are available on the PRIDE website. --Trudy Rice trice@ksu.edu
MARIE'S PICKS ...
This week my picks (outcomes and impact (what the clientele have done [NOT the agent'i.e., NOT "I offered / I provided / I taught . . . "], success stories, and public value [benefit to non-participants]) were reported by Diann Gerstner, Thomas County; Brian Waldschmidt, Harper County; and Nancy Honig, Stevens County.
**The 156 participants in Wise Up and Count Down learned about good nutrition and the importance of exercise. They had the opportunity to have low cost blood work done to help evaluate their health status with a retest done 16 weeks later at the end of Walk Kansas'which followed Wise Up and Count Down. Participants kept track of their food intake with food diaries. Participants received pedometers and were encouraged to follow the 'Step It Up' program that promoted increasing the number of steps taken each day. The grand finale was a fat bucks buffet'a fun meal focused on the amount of fats in foods. Participants had to choose their food wisely to not overspend their fat allotment. The 103 people who weighed out at the end of the 8 weeks reported a total of 516 pounds lost.
**Walk Kansas'248 people walked their way to better health! They received weekly newsletters focused on nutrition and healthy exercise. Those participating in both Wise Up and Count Down and Walk Kansas experienced consecutive healthy nutrition and exercise programs for 16 weeks!
**Thirty-six producers from Harper County and neighboring counties in Kansas and Oklahoma attended the Harper County wheat variety tour. Specialists from K-State discussed topics that included entomology, plant pathology, soils/fertility, and variety selection. Producers gained a better understanding of varieties best suited for our area. They also learned how to prevent certain diseases occurring locally through better production practices.
**This same wheat variety plot was harvested for yield, test weights, protein content, and fungicide results. This information will be published in local papers to help producers make more informed decisions before next fall's planting season.
**Several of the German/Mexican Mennonite clientele did home butchering over the holidays in conditions not conducive to food safety. A local collaboration developed among the health department, Extension, and a veterinarian to provide an educational program about home butchering. Though only a few people attended, those who did began to understand the danger of the improper handling of raw meat products. Because of their close social interaction, this information will be shared with multiple families. Foodborne illness not only has a financial impact to individuals, but to communities as well. One participant noted, 'This is very important to know to keep my family from being sick.' --Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
"WATER AND THE FUTURE OF KANSAS CONFERENCE" - SAVE THE DATE
align="left">The 27th "Water and the Future of Kansas Conference" will be held this fall on Tuesday, October 26, at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka. Please put the day on your schedule and plan to attend.
If you have suggestions for a theme, a breakout session, or a specific speaker, please send them to me. I will be working with a committee to organize the conference and we appreciate your suggestions.
Sponsors of the conference are:
Kansas Water Resources Institute
Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment
K-State Research and Extension
U.S. Geological Survey
I hope to see you at the conference this fall. --Steven Graham sgraham@k-state.edu
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