November 9, 2005
Seminar teaches budget skills
Saturday Specials covers cooking, home and auto maintenance
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
What do air filters, fried rice and window ratings have to do with reducing poverty?
They were just some of the topics covered during the Saturday Specials seminar held at the TBA Career Tech Center. The event drew 57 families, a mix of singles, couples and young adults who are all struggling to make ends meet but want to boost their life skills.
In the healthy eating session, attendees learned about planning, shopping for, preparing and storing for future meals. With an eye to maximizing nutrition while minimizing cost, chef Karl Malin, an instructor at the TBA Career Tech Center, told his audience that their slow days were the time to bank some meals.
"On weekends or whatever is your slow day, plan what you want to have for the week and do some shopping and prepare the meals," he said. "You can also cook extra in the evening meal and use the leftovers to freeze future meals or for lunch the next day."
Malin discussed one-pot meals, easy stir-fries that incorporate vegetables, meat and rice and ways to stretch a dollar in the kitchen.
"Asian food is really frugal," he noted.
Katherine Wieschowski of Traverse City said she learned a lot from the special sessions she attended on credit, healthy eating and winterizing a home.
"In the credit session, it went over where you can get you credit score and how to get help if you needed it," said the mother of two who also runs a home-based daycare. "I'm attending the winterizing my house because everything is going up and you've got to get as cheap as possible."
Luring a picky two-year-old to eat better while saving on her grocery bill was in the front of Betty West's mind Saturday.
"I have a two-year-old and I'm trying to feed him right," she said, adding of the whole day's activities: "This is a good thing, it's helping out a lot of people."
Other topics covered in the Saturday Specials agenda included career assessment, keeping a car running and basic computer skills. In the car session, the instructor noted that simple things such as keeping tires inflated properly and the air filter clean - things any car owner can do easily and cheaply - can improve gas mileage.
Area human service agencies also had booths at the event to provide information about their programs.
The seminar was part of an overall Poverty Reduction Initiative, which formally began in the five-county region in February 2004. Jim Rowlett, chair of the committee, termed the Saturday Specials event a resounding success - both for the clients who attended and the presenters.
"The key to this, and we've been saying this among ourselves, is engaging the clients - the people that are in poverty," he said. "We can sit around and talk to ourselves all day long and plan and figure out programs but unless we get the people we want to help involved, we're not making a difference."
Noting that attendance Saturday exceeded the planners' 'wildest dreams,' Rowlett said the attendees did not just come for the $20 gas card or the free lunch.
"They got involved and concentrated on the sessions they attended," he noted. "They were very complimentary about what they learned and wondered why we didn't have more people there and suggested that they would bring others to a future gathering."
"And I think that the people at the Career Tech Center themselves did an outstanding job, they were really committed to this and very enthusiastic," Rowlett added.