Giving With Ease to EFNEP’s Mission

Lorelei Jones has loved everything about NC State since she was a young girl growing up in eastern North Carolina’s Lenoir County.

那时，她参加了4-H的一部分，参加了健康，食品和营养和时尚审查项目。她每年夏天十几岁访问了大学校园，参加了4小时国会的州议会。这些经历增强了琼斯的信心，同时喂养了她对他人服务的热情，甚至帮助她将她带入了北卡罗来纳州的现任职业。

如今，琼斯继续致力于土地授予使命，因为北卡罗来纳州的研究，教学和推广计划改善了北卡罗来纳州人的生活。自2004年以来，她一直担任扩大食品和营养教育计划（EFNEP）的协调员，这是一项由联邦资助的计划，该计划通过农业和生命科学学院的青年，家庭和社区科学系的合作扩展在北卡罗来纳州运营。琼斯将她的部门描述为一个非常专业和才华横溢的团体。

“The professors and specialists are passionate about improving the lives of families and youth, and their scholarly work contributes to the body of research in the field,” she said. “Our work has great impact on the big issues facing families and youth today, but it often goes unnoticed because the limited-resource population that many of our programs serve doesn’t always have a strong political voice.”

Also since 2004, Jones has supported the work of her department and related outreach programs through payroll deduction and outright gifts to NC State funds and endowments. She feels fortunate to be in a position to help people improve their lives, in any way that she can.

“The mission of our department aligns perfectly with my personal mission,” she said.

The Department of Youth, Family and Community Sciences aims to improve the health and well-being of youth, families and their communities through applied research, teaching and extension activities. As the technical and content support for Cooperative Extension, the department’s faculty and staff develop, deliver and evaluate research-based community education programs in the areas of health and nutrition, local foods, family relationships, aging and energy conservation. Outreach is conducted through schools, with military youth, at community centers and within faith communities; it involves not only direct program delivery, but effective engagement and management of volunteers to support program goals.

Health greatly influences economic prosperity. EFNEP provides hands-on programs focused on nutrition education, improved family nutrition on limited resources, food resource management and food safety at home. It supports thousands of families and youth across North Carolina who are most at risk for leading unhealthy lives because of poverty and other challenges, encouraging them to set goals and change their nutrition and health behaviors for the better.

“The improvements that they make as a result of learning new skills and gaining knowledge through EFNEP often serve as the spark that propels their lives forward — leading them to make big changes in other areas of their lives, such as returning to school or applying for a new job,” Jones said. “My goal for giving to NC State is to support this work and ensure its continuation.”

The limited public resources available to conduct programs such as EFNEP — which began in 1969 — have steadily dwindled in recent years, she added, and donors help bridge the gap. For example, the EFNEP endowment enhances outreach to needy families and youth through awards to support innovative programming. And in 2013 North Carolina hosted representatives from 13 universities at a multi-state nutrition assistants’ conference, which had begun in 2007 with only three participating universities. Private funding assured that national-level speakers could be secured, making the conference a very valuable professional development and education event.

最终，日益增长的捐赠可以使Efnep扩展到它通常服务的40至50个北卡罗来纳州县。

“借助私人资金，如果您认为，您可以做到。”琼斯还曾在NC家庭和消费者科学基金会董事会任职。

She believes strongly in the mission of her program, department, college and university. Why would she encourage NC State staff and faculty members to invest in the institution?

琼斯说：“北卡罗来纳州州立大学正在进行好工作。”“这项工作会影响现在和将来的生命。”