Texas WIC News, Volume 19, Number 3, May/June 2010 Page: 2
24 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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his time of year, with the ending of
the school year and the beginning of
summer vacation, marks a transitional
period for many families. Young chil-
dren ages one through four in these
families make up the largest category of
participants that we serve. They consti-
tute 52 percent of our caseload. Histori-
cally, WIC tends to see a slight increase
in enrollment beginning in May and
lasting throughout the summer months.
Unfortunately these children are being
faced with two seemingly contradictory
issues - childhood hunger and child-
hood obesity. In reality these issues are
closely interrelated. Budget constraints
faced by low income households often
lead to hunger. Limited resources and
a lack of access to affordable healthy
foods can contribute to obesity. House-
holds with limited resources may try to
stretch their food dollar by purchas-
ing cheaper, higher fat, calorie dense
foods that are filling./
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2
2OOr
WIC plays a key role in simulta-
neously addressing both issues.
We offer a combination of pre-
ventative health services and
counseling as well as nutri-
tious foods which can
help lessen the impact
of food insecurity, help
expand tight budgets,
and give families the
knowledge and abil-
ity they need to select
healthy foods rich invitamins, minerals, and fiber and lower
in empty calories. WIC benefits are
available to all infants and children who
qualify based on income, residency and
identification criteria.
To get the full benefits the WIC program
offers, children should stay on the pro-
gram until their fifth birthday. Unfortu-
nately, the Texas statistics on enrollment
demonstrate there are key "drop-off"
times for children who are enrolled in
the WIC program. I encourage you to
read Kate Sullivan's article on page 11
to learn more about those key periods.
We are currently exploring interventions
which capture the participants' atten-
tion at those key periods and encourage
them to remain on the program.
To further encourage children's partici-
pation in the WIC Program, I urge you to
make WIC a place where children want
to go. The Zobey article on page 6, the
Client-Centered Nutrition education
article on page 8 and the growing meals
article on page 14 all highlight activities
and creative techniques for keeping the
1- to 5-year old fully involved in the WIC
process.
Involving the children engages the
parents and helps them make healthy
choices. Thank you for the role you play
in working to assure that parents have
the knowledge and tools needed to help
their children eat nutritious foods and at
the same time combat childhood obesity.From the Texas WIC Director
- Mike MontgomeryTexas D21 News
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Texas. Bureau of WIC Nutrition. Texas WIC News, Volume 19, Number 3, May/June 2010, periodical, May 2010; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth576014/m1/2/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.