April 2021 Newsletter

Thank you to our Generous Sponsors!

The 2021 MS-AND Annual Conference was a HUGE success and I could not have pulled it off without the help of a few amazing people.  A big THANK YOU to my Speaker Committee: Brady Taylor, Jacinda Roach, Keba Laird and Rebecca Turner, and to Lydia West for obtaining sponsorships.  

I wanted to also take this time to acknowledge all of the sponsors of the Annual Conference.  Without their generosity the conference would not have been such a big success.

Platinum Sponsors:

Nutricia
Holland Heritage Furniture
TFG
Sysco
The Peanut Insiitute
Nutrition Systems

Gold Sponsors:

The Dairy Alliance
The Beef Council
Whole Health Brittany Simmons
Hormel Health Labs
Lyons Magnus
Beverly Girard

Advocate Sponsors:

MPHI
Cura Hospitality

Legacy Sponsors:

MS State Dept of Food Science
James C Kennedy Wellness

Congratulations to all of the graduates! We wish you the best of luck!

Congratulations to the 2021-2022 University of Southern Mississippi Student Nutrition Society Board of Directors

President – Mercedes Babin
Vice President – Baleigh Jenkins
Treasurer – Valerie Craig
Secretary – Abby Compton
Philanthropist – Kaitlyn Taylor
Historian – Sydney Swafford
Peer Mentor Program Officer – Molly Cash

Some of the plans for the next year are to start a community garden at Edward Street Food Pantry in Hattiesburg, MS, and to work on more profit shares within the community. The officers will also be working to plan a food drive within the community to bring awareness to food insecurity and also the importance of nutrition.

Congratulations to the 2021-2022 University of Mississippi Student Dietetic Association Board of Directors!

Helen Mary Katool – President
Lyndsey Reed- Vice President
Mary Mckennon Pierce- Treasure
Alexis Crowther- Secretary

Student Dietetic Association at Delta State

The Student Dietetic Association at Delta State had its last meeting of the 2020-21 year via Zoom on April 28th. Like everyone, we have really missed our usual in-person meetings. Our last fundraiser was just before COVID in February 2020 for Valentine’s Day.  Instead of sweet treats for humans, we made several varieties of homemade dog treats. It was a huge hit! We also donated food to the food pantry at DSU. Our new slate of officers is already planning service activities and fundraisers for 2021-22. Our new leaders are going to make a great team!

President Abby Thomas is from Brookhaven, MS. Abby has been active in SDA and is a member of DSU’s Women’s Cross Country team.

Vice-President: Calli Price is from Senatobia, MS. In addition to SDA, Calli is active in TriDelta sorority. She is very excited about finishing the Dietetics program at DSU next year.

Secretary: Caroline Dee is from Madison, MS. One of Caroline’s favorite hobbies is horseback riding. She is also active in Phi Mu sorority.

Treasurer: Kailyn Lofton is a senior from Cleveland, MS. Kailyn plays shortstop for the DSU Softball team. Kailyn was accepted into the Coordinated Program last year and is excited about beginning supervised practice this summer.

Fundraising:  Bridgette Walton is originally from Gulfport, MS but was transplanted in the Delta about 8.5 years ago. As both a certified personal trainer and certified health coach, Bridget leads fitness classes and personally train clients.

Refreshment Chair: Mackenzie Lott is from Brandon, MS. Mackenzie is finishing up her junior year at DSU. Mackenzie loves to experiment with recipes and spend time with her best dog buddy Sampson.

Social Media: Amberia Washington is from Webb, MS in Tallahatchie County. Amberia discovered her love of health promotion and is excited about her future as an RD. Amberia lives by the motto “You get what you work for, not what you wish for.”

Congratulations to the 2021-2022 Mississippi State University Student Dietetic Association Board of Directors!

Erin Wicht – President
Erin is from Ocean Springs, MS. Her dream career is to be a registered dietitian. Her favorite food is sushi.

Julia Bristow – Vice-president
Julie is from West Point, MS and wants to pursue a path that ties to dietetics into medicine or therapy. Julia’s favorite vegetable is a sweet potato.

Amy Pham – Secretary
Amy is from Hattiesburg, MS. She plans to further her education and obtain her PhD. She hopes to own her own lab one day. Amy also plans ot create awareness in her community about nutrition and fitness. She would love to become a health promoter in these aspects. Amy’s favorite food is sushi.

Anna Claire Miskelly – Treasurer
Anna Claire is from Ripley, MS. Her career goal is to become a registered dietitian. Anna Claire’s favorite food is tacos.

Maddie Devine – National Nutrition Month Chair
Maddie is from Simpsonville, SC. She plans to become a clinical registered dietitian. Maddie’s favorite food is mashed potatoes

Ashlyn Anthony – Professional Development Chair
Ashlyn is from Tupelo, MS. Her career goal is to be a registered dietician. One of Ashlyn’s favorite food is brussel sprouts.

Caitlin Wall – Scholarship Chair
Caitlin is from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Her career plan is to complete a Dietetic Internship and a Master’s program, and she hopes to work in pediatric dietetics. Right now, her favorite food is any kind of soup!

Manna and Ole Miss SDA

Over the past few years, the Student Dietetic Association members have planned menus and managed a team of volunteers each Thursday afternoon at Manna, a ministry of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford. Meals are prepared and delivered to community members experiencing food insecurity or unable to leave their homes.  With help from other volunteers in the community, about 60 nutritious meals are provided each week.

Helen Mary Katool, Ole Miss student and SDA president states, “I have been volunteering at Manna for almost two years. Manna has been one of the favorite parts of my week during my time here at Ole Miss. It has allowed me to give back to the community while doing something I love – cooking!”  

Mary McKennon Pierce, treasure of SDA, and director of Manna does a great job of assembling volunteers and making sure everything runs smoothly. Each week volunteers do various tasks to help prepare the meals including cutting bread, washing and cutting fruit, cooking the main dish and assembling boxes. 

The different meals that Manna provides varies. Some of the favorite meals include Poppy Seed Chicken, Chicken Fajitas, Jambalaya, Mexican Casserole, and Quesadillas. “We love mixing it up by adding different fruit and trying new meals. This semester we started adding different kinds of vegetables such as sauteed okra and squash,” says McKennon. “My co-director, Abbie Carroll, helps me grocery shop each week as we try to creatively prepare meals that are healthy, enjoyable, as well as budget-friendly.” Some weeks Manna also receives fresh bread from Bottletree Bakery, a local bakery in Oxford. 

Manna is a great ministry for students at Ole Miss to be able to give back to the community. There are usually four to five volunteers each week, mostly nutrition and dietetic students. Manna takes place at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in their kitchen. However, the church as well as the kitchen are currently under construction. Thankfully, the church was able to find a temporary kitchen for the volunteers to use. They are excited to be able to use the new kitchen once it is done at the end of the year. “I look forward to Manna every week because of the joy it brings me, the volunteers and the people we are serving. We always have the best time together playing music, catching up on our weeks, and preparing the meal,” says McKennon.  

You can follow Manna on Instagram @mannafoodministry or find out more information about the ministry at: http://stpetersoxford.org/outreach/

Helen Mary Katool cutting bread from Bottletree Bakery

Red beans and rice, sautéed squash, fruit and bread 

Abbie Carroll and Caroline Loeb distributing fruit to the boxes 

Jambalaya, sautéed okra, fruit and bread

USM SNS Helps our Around Hattiesburg

The University of Southern Mississippi Student Nutrition Society (SNS) has worked with Extra Table and Edward Street Food Pantry to create a positive impact on food insecurity in the community of Hattiesburg, MS. The members of SNS have completed 253 hours of community service, donated over 200 pounds of canned food, and raised $200.00 (and counting) for Edward Street Food Pantry. We have had two profit shares to raise money for Edward Street Food Pantry. Leah Pettway, Lauren Sanders, Matthew Lewis, Sydney Swafford, Valerie Craig and myself revamped the Edward Street muscadine garden. Several members worked on ten custom recipes for the food pantry. These recipes were made with common pantry items and will be distributed to the community through the food pantry. This was done in hopes of getting more people interested in cooking and to promote healthy, doable meals. I hope Student Nutrition Society will continue to be involved in the community! Check out the pictures below.

– Cali Navarro, USM Student Nutrition Society Philanthropy Chair

National Public Health Week in Mississippi

The first full week of April is every year is National Public Health Week. Organizations across Mississippi recognized this week every year. This year the overall theme was “Building Bridges to Better Health”, and individual themes each day: “Elevating the Essential and Public Health Workforce”, “Advancing Racial Equity”, “Strengthening Community”, “Building a Better Future-Focus on Student Day”, “Uplifting Mental Health and Wellness”, “Environmental Justice”, and “Rebuilding”. To learn more visit www.nphw.org

Don’t Forget to Renew your Licensure!

The Mississippi State Department of Health, Division of Professional Licensure will waive all continuing education requirements for the 2021 dietetic licensure renewal for those who submit an application onlile. Also, the renewal period is extended an additional sixty (60) days, it will be open until May 31, 2021. Anyone renewing after the extended renewal date will be closed and assessed the late fee of $200.00. For additional information, please visit https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/30,0,82.html, call 601-364-7360, or email [email protected].

Delegate Report

Hey everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. Its my favorite time of year – Spring!

The Academy’s House of Delegates is getting ready for our third meeting of this fiscal year on May 1.  This one will be virtual, like the last two meetings. The theme for the May meeting is “A Culture of Positive Behaviors to Increase Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA)” The Delegates, House Leadership Team, and subject matter experts will focus on the Critical Issue Question (previously known as “Mega Issues”) of “How does the Academy promote a culture of positive behaviors to increase inclusion, diversity, equity and access (IDEA)?”.

Mississippi is in PODS (Power of Delegate Support) 6. We had our monthly meeting on April 27 to prepare for the May 1 House of Delegates meeting (see picture above). The Lead of our PODS always comes up with creative ice breakers. This month, she had us take a practice RD Exam. All I can say is, thank goodness it was group work – my heart goes out to all of you getting ready to take the exam. Good luck to you! You’ve worked hard for this and please know I’ll be thinking of you!

If you would like to know more about the Academy House of Delegates and the work we are doing, please feel free to reach out to me, or visit https://www.eatrightpro.org/leadership/governance/house-of-delegates.

Lydia West, MPH, RDN, LD, Delegate
Mississippi Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

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