• University of Maine Cooperative Extension Eat Well program staff provide nutrition education to limited-income citizens, including food stamp recipients, throughout the state. Over 900 adults and 2,100 youth with lower incomes participated in the program in 2007. Participants learn—in small groups, in schools, in their homes or through correspondence courses—strategies for expanding their food dollars and eating well on low budgets.
   
• University of Maine Cooperative Extension Master Gardener volunteers have received in-depth horticultural training from university educators and industry experts. In return, they volunteer in their communities.
  • Projects include teaching school children about gardening, conducting adult education workshops, creating displays for special community events and working in community gardens where food is grown with and for individuals and families on limited incomes.
     
• 4-H is the youth development program of University of Maine Cooperative Extension. In Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties, there are 72 youth ages 5-18 and over 150 volunteers involved in 4-H.
  • Our 4-H programs teach life skills such as leadership, time management, respect, responsibility and citizenship in home and school settings.
     
• Habitat Stewards™ is a program of the National Wildlife Federation®. In Maine it is a joint effort between the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the National Wildlife Federation® to train volunteers. These volunteers work with their neighbors to learn how to provide the basic needs for wildlife—food, water, shelter and places to raise young wildlife—and how to improve the health of the larger environment. Over 30 Habitat Stewards™ have worked with more than 600 individuals in our counties and have volunteered more than seven hundred hours to teach individuals and local groups how to create and restore wildlife habitat in backyards and community green spaces.

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