The Hunger Task Force’s nutrition education program teaches Milwaukee County seniors how to eat healthy on a budget.
The free program trains seniors to make meals with foods they can find in a Stockbox or food pantry.
Carmen Baldwin, Hunger Task Force’s community nutrition manager, takes nutrition education on the road and travels to various senior centers across the city using the Hunger Task Forces curriculum to provide interactive cooking demonstrations.
Nutrition class
On a Tuesday in February, about 20 seniors filed into the Clinton Rose Senior Center, 3045 N. Martin Luther King Drive, to discuss low-sodium meals.
Baldwin had attendees sample unsalted peanuts, discuss low-sodium diets and walked them through a recipe for black bean and corn salad.
Alice Stokes, an attendee, said she enjoys the class because it’s fun and educational.
“It gives us a chance to come together and talk,” Stokes said. “But it also makes us think about what we’re putting in our bodies.”
Stokes attends classes with both her mother and daughter.
In addition to leaving with healthy recipes, class attendees also leave with gifts. In this class, they received tote bags for grocery shopping and pens with nutrition facts on them.
How it works
Debra “Hollywood” Lewis is the center’s gift shop manager and events coordinator. She also helps bring in programs like the Hunger Task Force nutrition education program.
She said nutrition and exercise are very important to the seniors they serve, and the center incorporates as much as possible. The Hunger Task Force plays a big role in that.
“Not only do they bring in the nutrition program, they are always dropping off fresh vegetables, which is good,” Lewis said. “A lot of people can’t get fresh vegetables because they have to get out to a grocery store, and they can’t get to a grocery store.”
The program’s curriculum is broken down by month to introduce 12 MyPlate topics annually to older adults. The course goes over topics like identifying whole grains, sodium and heart health, all to promote healthy eating on a budget.
Baldwin said people want to know things and being consistent in these spaces allows her the rapport to make people comfortable asking questions.
“It can be intimidating to tell a stranger what health conditions you’re facing or to ask them for eating advice,” she said. “Being in the community consistently helps.”
For more information
Want to learn more about the program? Visit the Hunger Task Force website.
