When Charlie Rockhill, a single father of two young teen-agers, lost his job after a back injury, his income plummeted to $148 a week, which he supplemented with $86 a month in food stamps. "After buying a few TV dinners and a few meals at a fast food restaurant, we had nothing left for food within four or five days," says Rockhill of Lansing, N.Y. "I felt almost suicidal at times, having no idea how I was going to feed the kids for the rest of the month."

But Rockhill found a way by joining the free Expanded Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP), a 30-year-old Cornell Cooperative Extension program. After about 16 weeks of classes and one-on-one training on how to make food dollars stretch and how to plan and prepare nutritious meals, shop wisely, prepare a budget and improve family communication through food preparation, Rockhill says his life changed drastically. To commemorate success stories like this, as well as EFNEP's 30th anniversary, 300 nutrition educators from throughout New York state convened for a celebration and two-day conference at Cornell University, June 15-16. EFNEP, which is the nation's oldest nutrition education program, currently serves 41 counties and the four boroughs of New York City.

Rockhill, who now volunteers for EFNEP, stuffing envelopes, chopping food for demonstrations or helping teach a class at a local food pantry, says, "EFNEP really made a major difference in our habits, communication, eating and behavior patterns. I wish more people knew about it because it could really make a difference in people's lives.

"Everything we do now at home is completely different, from spending a lot more time together, drinking skim milk, cutting out junk food to having a family meal without the TV on," says Rockhill, who went from 300 pounds after his injury to 220 pounds after improving his diet with his new nutrition knowledge. "I'm so much closer to my kids. Now, it's the end of the month, and I still have $17 left for food. That was unheard of two years ago."

Rockhill is one of about 200,000 New Yorkers who have completed the nutrition education over three decades; if their family members are included, the course has affected about 1 million people. In recent years, 5,000 adults annually have graduated from the program. In 1998, for example, 176 high school graduates trained by Cooperative Extension professionals taught food-related education to more than 8,000 adults. The program also reached 13,000 young people enrolled in a 4-H EFNEP program involving nutrition, fitness, learning about new foods, practicing food buying, preparing food and learning safety skills.

"Low income is associated with chronic disease, poor pregnancy outcome, infant mortality, anemia and growth retardation," says Jamie Dollahite, associate professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell and the state director of the EFNEP program. "Nutrition is associated with these health problems. EFNEP, which tailors its education to the appropriate ethnic cuisine of participants, helps low-income families and youth acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and changed behavior necessary to improve their diet, health and well-being."

One recent study of the EFNEP program in Virginia, for example, found that every dollar spent in EFNEP reaped an $11 savings in reduced health-care costs.

"And the benefits extend beyond nutrition," says Dollahite. "Adult and youth participants report increased self-confidence, improved communications and more involvement in community organizations and activities. Of almost 3,000 volunteers engaged in different roles and activities in extension, for example, almost 18 percent are current or former EFNEP participants."