AgriLIFE adds FCS agent
by Alyson Hoffman

Hello, Henderson County! Please allow me to introduce myself as the newest addition to the AgriLIFE Extension family. My name is Alyson Hoffman and I am the new Family and Consumer Sciences Agent for Henderson County. I graduated from Texas A&M University in May with a degree in Health with an emphasis on Community Health. So, as you can imagine my passion is healthy communities, and after growing up in Athens I could not wait to get back and share what I have learned.

Let me begin by telling you about our new name, AgriLIFE Extension Service. On January 1, 2008, Texas Cooperative Extension became AgriLIFE Extension Service. Let me assure you that nothing has changed and we are still a great resource and wonderful community educators.

As you may know, AgriLIFE Extension Service was created to provide practical educational information for residents of Texas. This was done so that their lives might be enriched in three specific areas including Agriculture and Natural Resources, 4-H and Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences. As a County Agent, our primary role is to work with community members and volunteers to identify the county's educational needs and to implement programs that meet those needs.

So I mentioned Family and Consumer Sciences, but what is that really? Well, Family and Consumer Sciences, or FCS as most call it, was designed to provide sensible information for communities about families raising children, managing money, housing and environment, and staying healthy by eating well and exercising. I hope you noticed that I said `sensible' because all of the information I have to give is sensible. Trust me it is! My goal is not to completely change behaviors, but replace one or two "bad" habits for healthier ones. That sounds easy, right?

This year we will be offering classes on healthy eating and cooking, living on a bud- get, and living with diabetes. Also this year our banner program, Walk Across Texas! will be kicking off in late September. We had such great participation last year and I cannot wait to see what Henderson County does this year! Walk Across Texas! is a program that encourages the entire community to form teams of eight and increase physical activity levels for eight weeks. It is a great way to spend time with friends and family or both!

Also this summer we will be working with the East Texas Food Bank, local churches and community members to feed hungry children with the Summer Food Service Program. We will have two serving sites in Athens this year and also vans to transport children too far to walk. The Summer Food Service Program is a great program that feeds thousands of children every summer and we want this year to be the best yet. The program will start on June 9th and anyone wanting to participate should contact our office at 903-675-6130.

In addition to implementing these programs, I am here as an educational resource for anything related to Family and Consumer Sciences. Please feel free to call us at the Extension office, or just stop by. I may not have the answers to all of your questions, but I will do my best to find the answer for you. AgriLIFE is full of specialists and experts in many different fields.

If you are interested in finding out more about AgriLIFE Extension Service and Family and Consumer Sciences, visit our website hhtp:// fcs.tamu.edu. This site has a great deal of information and lists any programs that I may not have mentioned.

I look forward to working with all of the great people of Henderson County!

Important Dates:

March is National Nutrition Month and the theme this year is It's a Matter of Fact. This campaign focuses importance on informed food decisions and the development of sound physical activity and eating choices.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.