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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2026)
Family Activity Nights helped to fill gaps and stomachs in the Eugene area By Candace Hill, Eugene Area Office With the news looming that November food assistance programs were likely to be delayed due to the federal government shutdown, many heads came together to develop a way to feed our community in the Eugene service area. In partnership with the Diabetes program, the Eugene Area Office staff developed the Family Educational Activity Nights that would take place on the first three Wednesdays in November, and the first Wednesday in December as a way to not only provide a safe space to feed our com- munity but provide healthy food in an educational environment. Our dinner menus included a build your own personal pizzas, pulled pork, a burrito/taco salad bar, and spaghetti with turkey meat sauce. Staff made healthy choices for these meals such as swapping turkey for beef, serving fruits and vegetables as sides, and choosing low sugar- added options. To include education during these evening events, Jessica and I were intentional with finding activities that would not only be fun for the whole family but also involved food. Activities offered by our office included a breakfast banana split bar (with low-sugar Greek yogurt, whole grain organic granola, nuts, and a homemade berry sauce that was sweetened with honey), a make-your- own-trail mix station (which included many different healthy options such as many different dried fruit, nuts, dried snap peas, dried edamame, among other items), and holiday food crafts (a reindeer made from celery and no added sugar peanut butter and a snowman made from banana slices). In addition to good conversa- tion and our creative food activities, Photos by Andy Taylor Top left: Addison Hibler and Ny’Ellie Butler making Christmas themed snacks together Bottom left: Candace Hill helping attendee Malachi Lou Barfield Moceikis, make his treat Top right: Stormie Ehret, Celestial Ehret, Tena Ehret and Scott Ehret visit- ing together Bottom right: Phoenix Lundy-Quade playing with tiles 14 • Siletz News • January 2026 the events also had mindfulness activities available such as Legos, coloring pages, magnatiles, and a holiday countdown. We had educa- tional board games available at each event that were a huge hit and helped to encourage family and community engagement. Elder Verdene McGuire taught earring making at one of our events - attendees were able to make snow- man earrings. We also sent families home with healthy snack bags that focused on lowering barriers to con- sume, high protein, whole grains, and low sugar options. In total, we were able to serve 122 people over our four evening events, many of whom receive SNAP food benefits. The Family Educational Activity Nights fulfilled our goals of feeding our community in a healthy way and removing barriers in a way that provided education outlets and family bonding. A huge shout out to Kimberly Lane in the Diabetes program for being willing to help find a way to make this idea a reality as well as a shout out to Jessica, Celestial, Stormie, and Makayla for sacrificing their evenings to serve our community.
