Jefferson County Family & Community Development
Home is where the heart is and family and health issues are at the heart of WVU Extension Family and Community Development. We offer a variety of nutritional classes and guidance, learning tools, outreach opportunities, and community connections. Programs are offered for all ages and groups and are generally free.
Browse the
Jefferson County calendar for announcements of upcoming classes and workshops.
Get added to our local contact list and receive information about upcoming workshops,
classes and other program events, by
calling or emailing the Jefferson County Office.
Health & Wellness News
Dining With Diabetes Virtual Classes
Dining with Diabetes is a series of classes that runs once a week for four consecutive weeks. A follow up class will be scheduled three to four months later. Participants are expected to attend all classes. Dining with Diabetes is open to individuals with diabetes or pre-diabetes, their family members and their caregivers.
You will learn how to prepare meals that are healthy, easy to prepare, and tasty, and watch live cooking demonstrations. And, you will also learn up-to-date information on nutrition, meal planning, exercise, and how to understand common diabetes-related medical tests. Recipes and handouts will be given to each participant.
Classes are Tuesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 on the following days:
Gardening 101 with the Berkeley-Jefferson Extension Master Gardeners
Gardening 101 is moving to a virtual format this year on Zoom. Gain the green thumb you've always dreamed of with this introduction to gardening workshop. Learn from local Master Gardeners, county Extension Agents and other experts.
Sessions will take place Tuesday evenings starting February 2nd, and run for nine weeks. All sessions are from 7:00 to 8:30.
Eating Smart, Being Active Online Course
Contact the Jefferson County Office
Learn about upcoming opportunities by calling 304-728-7413.
Programs
Maintain Don't Gain
Now in it's 14th year, Maintain Don't Gain is a holiday challenge that helps participants maintain their weight during the stressful holiday season. Jefferson County Extension partners with community locations to host weigh-in sites for the program. Participants receive coupons for free access to local gyms and weekly newsletters that share fitness and nutrition tips. Get started by visiting one of our sites between November 11-21 to check in and check out at the same site between January 1-11.
Community Educational Outreach Service (CEOS)
CEOS is a statewide club supporting West Virginia since 1914. Over the past decade,
West Virginia CEOS members performed more than 5.6 million hours of service
for communities in need. Supported by the WVU Extension Service, CEOS program areas
of emphasis include preserving the environment, building family strengths, and
increasing awareness of our global interdependence.
Community Educational Outreach Service
Family Nutrition Program
The Family Nutrition Program is comprised of numerous nutrition, food, and physical
activity projects designed to help limited resource families, youth, and adults
improve their health. FNP targets risk factors associated with obesity, cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic diseases.
Food Preservation
Food preservation workshops are offered each spring and summer and your county
Extension agent is always available to answer your questions. We want you to preserve
the bounty of the season and we want you to do it safely! For complete information
on food preservation processes, learn about local food preservation workshops and/or
visit the
National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Dinning with Diabetes
Diabetes is a common, serious, and costly disease. Many complications of diabetes
can be controlled and even prevented by making lifestyles changes – scheduling
regular doctor visits, improving eating habits, increasing physical activity, and
maintaining a healthy weight. The Dining with Diabetes program helps adults make
lifestyle changes. It is a free program for those with diabetes and their family
members. The series of four classes and a three-month follow-up includes clinical
testing, nutrition information, recipe demonstrations, exercise, and group support.
Stress Less with Mindfulness
Are you skeptical about the benefits of being mindful, of being “in the moment”, of meditation? Here is what we know about practicing mindfulness:
- It can lower cortisol levels and blood pressure;
- It can increase immune response;
- It can have impact on brain structure;
- Mindfulness programs are widely used in universities, hospitals; Silicon Valley and Fortune 500 companies, and Pentagon chiefs. There are certified mindfulness instructors in every state.
This ancient practice helps people extend the benefits of relaxation into more areas of their daily lives. Mindfulness involves a combination of slowing down, doing one activity at a time and bringing full awareness to both outer activity and inner experience. It provides a potentially powerful antidote to the common causes of stress: time pressure, fragmentation, overload, distraction, agitation and worry. Participants will learn and practice the basic tools of mindfulness and learn how and why mindfulness works. Call for more information or if you have a group interested in attending mindfulness classes.