DATE:    11/13/97
CONTACT: Katherine Cason, (864) 656-5722
WRITER:  Giles Singleton, (864) 656-3876

Clemson Extension EFNEP Coordinator 
Receives Governor's Award and $759,000 Grant

     COLUMBIA -- Clemson Extension Specialist Katherine Cason has
been honored by Gov. David Beasley for developing a nutrition
program that helps senior citizens.
     Cason, program coordinator for the Expanded Food and
Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) received the 1997 Governor's
Health Promotion for Older South Carolinians Award for her
Learning, Innovation, Networking, and Celebration (LINC)
nutrition program. Gov. Beasley presented the award on Oct. 29.
     The Clemson University professor also recently received a
$759,000 federal grant from USDA Food and Consumer Services to
significantly expand LINC and EFNEP. This marks an increase of
more than $650,000 over last year's grant. 
     EFNEP targets young low-income families, women of
childbearing age, and youth ages 5-19. LINC focuses on the
elderly and preschool-age children, as well as pregnant and
parenting adolescents.
      "Both programs will be expanded and enhanced through the
grant," said Cason, who serves as an associate professor in the
Department of Family and Youth Development at Clemson. "I am
truly excited about this opportunity to provide more innovative 
programs to those audiences that need the information the most."
     One new educational tool this grant will provide is a
Nutrition Education and Resource Center on the Internet for
people who want the answer "right now."
     "We're making a big difference with these programs," Cason
said. "We can document the changes in attitude, skills, knowledge
and behavior that occur. In the 1997 federal fiscal year,
EFNEP and LINC together reached 18,046 South Carolinians in 36
counties." LINC alone reached 2,407 elderly and 4,286 preschool
aged children last year.
     The governor's health promotion awards have been given by
the Office on Aging and the state Department of Health and
Environmental Control since 1985 for effective and innovative
programs in senior health promotion. Cason's award was one of
three given this year in the state.
     LINC is a collaborative effort between the Clemson
University Cooperative Extension Service, the S.C. Department of
Social Services, and the state Department of Health and
Environmental Control, Center for Health Promotion.
                             END