Mrs. A. is a young homemaker with four children and was expecting when I met her. There was no food in the home. She seemed depressed and at wits end. I gave her a list of food banks to try and worked with her on menu planning, basic food groups, and taught the following lessons:

1. feeding toddlers
2. snacks for children
3. food safety
4. shopping lists and store specials
5. food storage
6. budgeting your food dollars
7. quick, easy, inexpensive recipes

Mrs. A now:

• plans a meal
• plans a grocery list
• serves the children snacks that are nutritious
• makes meal times a set time
• tries new recipes
• uses bleach as a cleaning tool in her home

Mrs. A. is still a homemaker; we have more lessons to go. She's receptive and always ready. She's also applying for a day care license because she is at home and says she might as well earn some money and help herself financially. I'm giving her all the encouragement I can.

Mrs. B. is a young homemaker with five children. I met her at the WIC clinic. She said she never had time for a grocery list. She wanted new foods (recipes); she wanted quick things. Her children ate whatever snacks they liked and drank sodas. There were pets in the house (cat and dog). The cat walked across the table and counter tops. There was a lot to do here. I taught food sanitation and safety; the basic food lessons; quick, easy, inexpensive recipes; how to make your snacks nourishing; how to make a grocery list, and how to look for store sales. I encouraged her to get a day care license.

Mrs. B. now:

• makes a shopping list
• shops the sales
• makes nutritious snacks
• plans menus
• keeps animals off the food areas
• studied for day care, went through the training and received her license

Upon completion of the program she told me, "I know how to buy, prepare and store foods. I know how to feed my family and I can feed my day care children the proper foods and snacks. This program has been a God send for me. I can't keep enough milk, carrots, graham crackers and cheese in the house." She now has two children in her day care.

Ms. T. is a young homemaker with five children. She was eager to learn. We started with children's lunches. She would go to the grocery store and pay any amount for groceries as long as she got the foods she liked. She used no menus, no food budget, no new recipes, no juice, and always fried foods. She ate anything she wanted and the children did the same.

• I taught Ms. T. all the parts of the different nutrition lessons from milk through food sanitation.
• She learned how to make a food budget and made it work using menus and a shopping list.
• I taught her new, quick, easy recipes. She in turn showed them to her oldest daughter.
• I showed her the difference between fruit drink and fruit juice.
• I taught her and she now uses the basics in cooking a lot of foods, especially meats.
• I taught her basic sanitation steps to keep her house in order, neat and clean.

Ms. T. decided she wanted money of her own so she applied for two jobs. She started working on weekends. She now works at Camden Yards in Baltimore. She thanked me and hugged me for teaching her nutrition and how to manage and make sure her children are getting the nutritious meals they need, and that her girls are learning valuable lessons through her. She said she'll never forget the program or me. She was a very friendly, open, willing and attentive client. She also got two other clients to join EFNEP and used her house as the meeting place for the group meetings.

This is the best nutrition class I've had at the WIC clinic. It's interesting to learn so much in such a short time.

I take my food stamp allowance and divide it into four amounts. I make menus and a grocery list; my children have food all month now.