Oklahoma celebrated its 10th anniversary as a state project on March 26 at AgrAbility Day at the Capitol. Seventeen partnering vendors hosted booths; four outstanding individuals were recognized for their ten years of service to the Project; and three FFA chapters were awarded a total of $2,400 for winning a state-wide contest to identify the need, and assess and create assistive technology for a local farmer/rancher. Seven Extension educators walked the halls of the Capitol delivering 150 resistance exercise bands and information on arthritis exercise to senators' and representatives' executive assistants, and nine more were delivered to the executive assistants in the governor and lieutenant governor offices. Several news releases were run state-wide and in the Farm Talk newspaper covering Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri.
Cooperative Extension educators continue to attend the recorded professional core training on AgrAbility. Each participant is provided with a Project curriculum notebook/DVD on the following topics: AgrAbility: Introduction for General and Professional Audiences; Gardening with Ease for managing conditions including arthritis; Home and Farm Safety; and Preparing for Emergencies and Empowering Caregivers, along with project promotions and resources. Each county represented by Family & Consumer Science receives an 8-piece set of tools/devices to be used for all local OCES presentations.
Submitted by Julie York