James F. Evans Collection, Ham, Mimeographed, 1994. 1 p. Presented at the Society for Nutrition Education, Portland, OR, July 16-20, 1994., A 10-hour training program was designed to teach volunteers to deliver short programs that demonstrate using the new nutrition label to select lower fat and/or low sodium foods. Volunteers contracted to "pay back" 10 hours of community service. In cooperation with the local Area Agency on Aging Nutrition Program, volunteers delivered 20-minute interactive programs at nutrition sites to nearly 400 seniors. Post-tests showed a majority of seniors could recognize the new nutrition facts label compared with the old nutrition label after the brief presentations. Information on sodium content was most frequently sought on nutrition labels by this audience. A survey of the volunteer extenders showed high job satisfaction and a feeling of contributing valuable information to the community. It was recommended that in addition to teaching experience, volunteers be required to have at least one college-level course in nutrition. Refinements in the training curriculum were also recommended and are being piloted on a second group of volunteers.
