Habitat for Humanity launches toy drive to brighten holidays for families awaiting homes<\/a><\/p>\nThe program, recognized by the American Diabetes Association, gives participants access to education from a registered nurse specializing in diabetes care.<\/p>\n
Alongside the program, the food bank also offers cooking and nutritional classes. Nutrition Educator Tracy Atkinson said her passion for this work started with her mother’s cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just started learning about what she was going through and what foods could help her during her process of healing,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cIt’s medicine for us at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nutrition Educator Alejandra Dodge, who works alongside Atkinson, said their goal is to make healthy eating more accessible and enjoyable.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust spending time with your family — cooking together,\u201d Dodge said.<\/p>\n
She added that access to inexpensive, nutritious foods supports both physical and mental health.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really empowering,” Dodge said. “It helps kids be better in school, and it helps mothers be better at their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Registered Nurse and Diabetes Educator Georgiana Bradshaw has led the diabetes program for 17 years. She said her passion for the field stems from a family history of diabetes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAunts that lost their leg, or cousins losing their eyesight,\u201d Bradshaw said. \u201cAnd so when I learned that good glucose control makes a difference, it got me interested in diabetes education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradshaw said the structure of the eight-week program helps participants leave with confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how they leave the class: \u2018I can do this, you know, I can take care of my diabetes,\u2019\u201d Bradshaw said. \u201cWe cover everything a person needs to know in order to control their diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atkinson said improving eating habits one meal at a time can change lives across the Coastal Bend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a high rate of diabetes, high rate of heart disease, and that plays a pivotal role,\u201d she said. \u201cThey can be taught a different way, it\u2019s going to aid them in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The food bank is also preparing for its 38th annual Share Your Christmas Food Drive\u00a0<\/a>on Dec. 10. Donations will help support programs like these and families in need across 11 counties in the Coastal Bend.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RN and Diabetes Educator Georgiana Bradshaw has led the diabetes program for 17 years. ‘We cover everything a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-75270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}