Health and Human Sciences
It's as simple as
Food, Family, Money, & Health
The Health and Human Sciences (HHS) Educator delivers educational programs in Vigo County that are evidence and research based, to all community members. HHS Purdue Extension focuses on issues related to families and parenting through programs like our "Strengthening Families Program". HHS Extension delivers health and wellness and food and nutrition programs to help with chronic diseases, like "Dining with Diabetes" and "Be Heart Smart". Through HHS you can also learn about food safety and home food preservation. Where Does Your Money Go helps those who struggle financially get back to basics by learning budgeting.
Contact Us
Purdue Extension Vigo County
275 Ohio St.
Terre Haute, IN 47807
(812) 462-3371
GAIL WRIGHT
Examples of Programming
The Strengthening Families Program: For Parent and Youth 10-14 is an evidence-based program that can help prevent teen substance abuse and other behavior problems, strengthen parent/youth communication skills, increase academic success in youth, help teach youth skills for dealing with stress and peer pressure, prevent violence, and aggressive behavior at home and at school. Ranked as the #1 prevention program out of 6,000 analyzed by the World Health Organization, the Strengthening Families Program consists of 7, 2-hr. long classes comprising of youth, parent, and family sessions.
Session topics included:
- Love & Limits
- Dreams & Goals
- House Rules
- Appreciating Parents
- Encouraging Positive Behavior
- Dealing with Stress
- Following Rules & Using Consequences
- Peer Pressure
For more information, visit https://extension.purdue.edu/hhs/
Each year, about 659,000 people in the United States die from heart disease, that’s 1 of every 4 deaths (CDC)! Purdue Extension’s Be Heart Smart Program helps individuals learn information to prevent and reduce their risk of developing heart disease. Over the course of four lessons, participants will learn about the risk factors associated with heart disease, important numbers to know, heart-healthy eating, and how to make sustainable heart-healthy lifestyle changes.
Be Heart Smart cost $15 to attend. For more information, visit: https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/extension/program6/
According to Gallup, only 1 in 3 Americans use a budget and 30% have a long-term financial plan involving savings and investments for the future. Where Does Your Money Go? Program is designed to help consumers better understand how to spend their money. Taught over two, one-hour sessions, participants learn about financial management practices such as needs vs wants, writing goals, tracking expenses, identifying spending leaks, and how to develop a spending-savings plan. Furthermore, program activities help participants increase their knowledge of money management practices that promote financial stability and adoption of new habits that can lead to financial control.
For more information, visit: https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/extension/where-does-your-money-go/According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report 2020, 34.2 million Americans have diabetes and another 88 million have prediabetes (CDC). Furthermore, people who have diabetes are 2.3 more likely to have greater healthcare cost than people who don’t have diabetes.
The Dining with Diabetes Program is a designed to assist and support individuals who have diabetes as well as their families to help reduce the burden of diabetes by increasing knowledge of healthy foods, tips to prepare quick, healthy, and tasty foods, demonstrating proper cooking techniques, promoting physical activity, building confidence, and providing opportunities for participants to learn from one another.
The cost to attend Dining with Diabetes is $40 per individual or $65 per couple. To learn more about Dining with Diabetes, visit: https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/extension/programs-food-0/#dining-with-diabetes
Extension Homemakers
VIGO COUNTY EXTENSION HOMEMAKERS NEWSLETTER
May 2026
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Hello all. Hope this newsletter reaches all our members. If you hear of someone not receiving a copy, please let me or Wendy at the Extension Office know. Club Presidents, please make sure all your end of year information forms have been sent to the Extension Office or me.
Dates to Remember
May 4, 2026 Council Meeting (previously Meadows Elementary School—behind Wabash Avenue Rural King) 55 S. Brown Avenue, Terre Haute, IN
Executive Board, 9am; Full Council (Executive Board + Club Presidents) 10am
May 12, 2026 Sewing Day, Tuesday, 10am, Community Center, Vigo County Fairgrounds. 10am-afternoon..leave when you need
June 2, 2026 Melody Makers of Indiana Association presents “A Festival of Choral Music” (see attached flyer)
June 8, 2026 Past Presidents Meeting, time and place TBA
June 15 – 17, 2026 Home & Family State Conference; Nashville, IN
Info included in this newsletter, more coming in following months
June 22, 2026 Achievement Day; Time and place TBA
Council Meeting immediately following
November 2026 Extension Craft Day, time and place TBA
Council elected to have International Day and Extension Craft Day on alternating years. Start making your items you want to sell. More information this summer.
Join us on Online!
IEHA website: www.ieha-families.org.php
Extension Homemakers website: www.extension.purdue.edu/vigo
FB page: Vigo County Extension Homemakers
Deb’s President email address: president.home.ext.vigo.co@gmail.com
Deb’s phone/text number: 812-243-3473 (please text me in case I don’t have your number in my phone.
Vocal Chords
The Vocal Chords concert at Central Christian on May 15th will start at 6:30pm. This concert will be a good chance to have friends and family come to hear our wonderful group. It’ll also be a split concert; half will be Vocal Chords and half will be the Wabash Valley String Possie. It’s a “2 for 1” Concert.
Melody Makers
Melody Makers of Indiana Association presents: A Festival of Choral Music on Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 7:00 p.m.in the River City Community Center, 2842 Old US Highway 231 South, Lafayette, IN 47909. Donations are gratefully accepted ($15 adults suggested).
Past Presidents Meeting
The meeting will be at Ellie Oliver’s house on June 8th. It’s going to be a carry-in lunch starting at 11:00am. Also, bring your swimsuits so you can have fun in her pool!
Spring 2026 District Meeting
The District Meeting was held at the Cayuga Fairgrounds in Vermillion County on April 9th.
We celebrated the countries 250th birthday with red, white, and blue decorations. The morning started off with pastries and coffee. Guest speaker, Brenda Cotton, INDAR Central District Director, talked about the Women in the Revolutionary War. I thoroughly enjoyed the talk and pictures of these women. Throughout the day a Silent Auction was held. I bid on two items and won one! In all we had a very informative day listening to our State Homemakers Extension President, president elect, and educator’s updates.
Flower Cards
I still have a few flower cards left. I’m talking with Maggie & Moe’s about continuing to sell the cards through the first couple weeks of May. At this point in time the project did not go over as I and the Council had hoped. The money this project makes goes to the Vigo County Extension Homemakers budget where it is needed. We will revisit the selling of the cards as a money making project later this summer. If you have any thoughts on any other type of money making projects, please let me know.
Volunteer Community Support Reporting Form
I was glad to receive all but one form from our nine clubs. Ruth will give a report at the Council meeting.
Sewing Day
We have one more sewing day scheduled this Spring. I want to thank all that have come out for this county-wide project. The sewing of receiving blankets, burp cloths, and Christmas stockings for Union Hospital is very rewarding. I enjoy doing this for the babies and their families. I’m thinking about adding another one or two sewing days in the Fall. Possibly starting in September. Let me know what your thoughts are on this subject.
State President’s Project
I turned in a report for items that had been donated through “Sharing Some Bloom(er)s. Please continue to make contributions to various organizations and let me know. I will give an update at our Achievement Day.
Spring Fling
An update on this event will be in the June Newsletter.
IEHA Home and Family Conference
The form is on the IEHA website www.ieha-families.org.php
Conference registration opened April 1st. Print the form, fill it out, and mail it and your check/credit card information in. You can register online but there will be a 4% fee per registration.
Although I meet people that have had some form of skin cancer, many of us know very little about it or preventing it. As the most common cancer in the U.S., by the age of 70—1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer. This means 9,500 people are diagnosed with skin cancer each day. More people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year than all other cancers combined. It only takes having 5 or more sunburns in your life to double your risk for melanoma. The only positive, that when detected early, the 5-year survival rate for melanoma is 99 percent.
The Skin Cancer Foundation discusses skin cancer as nonmelanoma and melanoma. The primary difference is that melanoma is a highly aggressive, often deadly skin cancer arising from pigment cells (melanocytes), while nonmelanoma (mostly basal or squamous cell) is far more common, slow-growing, and rarely spreads.
There are several risk factors for skin cancer. Those include: Indoor tanning, Sunburns, Skin Type, Unprotected Exposure to UVA & UVB Rays, Genetics, Atypical Moles, Red Hair, and Working Outdoors. You can reduce the likelihood with: Daily use of a broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF 30+, Use of sun protective clothing, UV-blocking sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats, Seeking the shade whenever possible, Protective window film in your car and home, Annual skin exams with your physician, Monthly self-exams, and a healthy diet.
Melanoma is best detected using ABCDE criteria (Asymmetry, Border, Color, Diameter, Evolution), while non-melanoma appears as slow-changing, waxy, or red scaly spots. To prevent skin cancer and detect it early, do a monthly skin check and see a dermatologist annually.
For more information on skin cancer, refer to the Skin Cancer Foundation website at https://www.skincancer.org/early-detection/ or contact Gail at 812-462-3371.