April/May Featured University of Illinois Websites

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1 April/May 2009 Access the U of I Extension Macoupin County website: to find information about a variety of consumer, horticulture, family, and food and nutrition topics. University of Illinois Extension Macoupin County #60 Carlinville Plaza Carlinville, IL Phone: Fax: macoupin_co@extension.uiuc.edu Featured University of Illinois Websites The Selecting Illinois Trees website provides a guide for selecting the best tree for your situation. It includes selection information, a list of some common diseases and common insect or insect-related problems for each species. Paula D. Robinson County Extension Director The Secret Life of Trees is an excellent interactive website where you can learn all about the parts of a tree and why trees are important to us. The Walk in the Woods Website is designed for 3 rd -5 th graders to help them to learn to observe the unique features of the woods from animal tracks to burls on a tree. Check it out at Dr. Arbor Talks Trees is designed for 2 nd -6 th graders to discuss the different parts of trees; the how-to for collecting and preserving leaves; tree identification by looking at their leaves, trunk, and twigs; unusual trees from around the world; a number of very interesting and intriguing tree facts; and even photos of each state s official tree. HELPING YOU PUT KNOWLEDGE TO WORK

2 Page 2 Do YOUR Part for Earth Day, April 22 April 22, 2009 will be the 39th anniversary of the first Earth Day. The beginning of the environmental movement in the United States originated on April 22, On that date, approximately 12,000 schools, colleges and universities and over 20 million Americans took a visible stand on environmental issues. These past three decades have made our nation more aware of environmental issues, technologies more capable of dealing with pollution and an enhanced understanding of how people impact the world upon which we depend. However, still today major environmental challenges face mankind and the future of our planet earth. This is where YOU come in! Every human being impacts the earth and its important natural resources of the soil, air, water, plants and animals as a part of our daily life. It is our choice to use and protect these resources or to abuse and destroy the quality of these resources. Everyone to join in and be a part of this celebration of Earth Day! Individuals and groups can do the following activities to be a part of this new grassroots movement: Adopt (or clean up) a highway, park, subdivision, roadside, stream or lake bank. Plant trees as part of a community project, park district effort, where you work or at home. Recognize those who have or are making significant contributions to your community s environmental health. Organize an environmental celebration at your county fairgrounds, city park or downtown shopping area. Work with your church and its leadership to include environmental stewardship as part of the worship service. Organize a local tour featuring farms using conservation practices, a public water supply, a sewage waste treatment plant, public lakes and streams. Provide your local school with a list of speakers that may talk to students about conservation and environmental issues in your community. Join local environmental organizations and watershed committees. Begin or expand community waste reduction and recycling programs. Develop a speaker s bureau in your community to discuss environmental issues with civic clubs, organizations and service groups. Earth Day 2009 provides a unique opportunity to join millions of people around the world by taking a proactive approach to protecting and enhancing the earth for the future. Frazee emphasizes that YOU can make a difference!

3 Page 3 How to Talk to Your Creditors When You Can t Pay Your Bills You may not be facing this problem but some of the families you work may need to talk to their creditors. Here is some information that you may share with your student s families. Do not wait for your creditors to call you about unpaid bills. Instead contact them to explain your situation. Rather than begin expensive collection procedures, most creditors would prefer to receive smaller payments on a regular basis. Creditors will be more cooperative if you have paid your bills on time in the past. To begin, do your homework before calling or writing. Know who you owe, how much you owe, and how you plan to pay them. Make sure you'll be able to follow through on your agreement and that your repayment plan is acceptable both to you and your creditor. To help you with this process, read the factsheets on which bills to pay first and establishing a spending plan at developed by University of Illinois Extension. Once you know how much money you can afford to repay, contact each creditor, explain your family's situation, and ask their assistance in working out a solution. Be prepared to explain: The reason you can't pay. Your current income and prospects for future income. Other obligations (bills) that you have. Your plans to bring this debt up-to-date and keep it current, including the amount you'll be able to pay each month. If possible, visit local creditors in person the loan officer at your bank or credit union, the credit manager of local stores, and the budget counselor at the utility company. Contact out-of-town creditors by phone or letter, writing down the name and title of the person you talked to. Follow the conversation with a letter summarizing the agreement and keep copies of your correspondence as well as any reply. Use the sample letter to creditors at (click on Managing Your Finances) as an outline when talking to creditors. As you negotiate with each of your creditors, don't agree to any plan simply to get off the hook. Here are some alternatives to consider when you are negotiating: Reduce the monthly payment. Refinance the loan. Defer a payment for a short time if you expect your income to increase soon. Pay only interest on the loan until you can resume making monthly payments. Voluntarily surrender or give back an item purchased on credit. Sell the item and use the cash to pay, or partially pay, the debt (you are still responsible for any remaining balance).

4 Page 4 Tell your creditors about any changes that may affect your payment agreement. If you fail to follow the plan, they'll be less willing to work with you in the future and you'll hurt your chances of getting future credit. If you owe a large amount of money, and your creditors won't accept reduced payments, you may have to consider more extreme alternatives, such as filing bankruptcy. If you miss a payment, eventually your bills may be turned over to a collection agency. The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act prohibits collection agency callers from using abusive language, calling you at unusual hours or threatening criminal prosecution, and discussing your financial situation with others. If you receive a call from a creditor or collection agency: Ask the caller's name. Get the name of the creditor and the name, address, and telephone number of the collection agency. Note the exact amount they say is due. Write down the date and time of each call. Stay calm. Explain your financial situation and how much of the bill you are able to pay, according to your repayment plan. Dispute debts in writing. If you believe you don't owe the amount claimed or otherwise disagree, make your reasons known promptly in writing to both the creditor and the collection agency. Request a written statement of your account and always keep copies of your correspondence for future reference. Creditors can take several kinds of legal action against you. They may file a complaint, initiating a lawsuit, in which case you'll receive a summons. The case may be settled in small claims court, depending on how much is owed. If you don't respond or lose the case, the court will issue a judgment against you for the amount you owe plus court costs and attorney fees. Other actions creditors can take against you include: Acceleration the entire debt is payable at once if you miss a payment. The courts can force you to pay by seizing your property and selling it. Repossession the creditor can seize the item you bought or property you used as collateral. If its sale brings less than you owe, you must pay the difference. Wage garnishment a court order requires your employer Foreclosure If you fail to make your mortgage payment or to pay the taxes or insurance on your house or other property, the lender can force the sale of your home/business to pay off the loan. You are responsible for the legal fees of foreclosure and the difference between the selling price and the amount owed on the loan. Be proactive to head off these drastic measures by communicating with your creditors at the first sign of a problem. Lois E. Smith, consumer and family economics

5 Page 5 Making Mother s Day Special Mother s Day, celebrated this year on May 10, 2009, annually falls on the second Sunday of May in the United States. Since 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation making it a national holiday, Mother s Day has honored the role of mothers in family life. Churches often have a service acknowledging mothers and may pass out white carnations in honor of them. This tradition was started by Anna Marie Jarvis in 1907 when she handed out white carnations at her mother s church in Grafton, West Virginia. The next year the church held a special service honoring mothers, which spread to 46 states the following year. Encouraged by this response, Anna continued her campaign to institute a national holiday honoring mothers. Anna s own mother had held the first official celebration of mothers, called Mother s Work Day, to raise awareness of sanitation issues in West Virginia and the work of mothers in public life. After her mother s death, Anna made it her own mission to continue the work of honoring mothers. Desiring it to be a day of sentiment, it has been reported that Anna became discouraged by the commercialization of Mother s Day. Although cards, gifts, and flowers can become a hollow or costly substitute of our sentimental expressions, Mother s Day generally provides a wonderful opportunity for children to express their love and appreciation for their mother. Moms often get to take it easy while the rest of the family pulls together to do her normal duties. It might start with dad and/or the kids cooking a special breakfast; followed by homemade cards, poems, pictures, or gifts from the children; and ending with eating out at a special restaurant or dad and/or the kids fixing supper. For adult children it usually includes at least a phone call or visit along with a card or gift. Family games and favorite foods may also be a part of the celebration. If you are looking for lots of fun ideas to incorporate in this day, here are two great sites: - Although this website is designed for preschool teacher ideas, it has great ideas for Mother s Day gifts, games, and snacks. - This website has craft, greeting card, and cooking ideas to help make Mother s Day special. It also has special ideas for honoring stepmothers. Patti Faughn, family life

6 Websites Leaf You with Ideas to Celebrate Arbor Day, April 24 Page 6 Arbor Day in Illinois is always celebrated on the last Friday in April. So, with the 2009 Arbor Day scheduled for April 24, now is the time to think Trees. Look on page for University of Illinois Extension tree websites. Here is a list of websites which will leaf you with ideas on how to celebrate Arbor Day in your yard and throughout your community. This National Arbor Day website provides a number of excellent activities and ideas to help schools, communities and students celebrate National Arbor Day. Included in this website are lesson plans and many activities for teachers and youth. The U.S. Forest Service Smokey Bear website games.asp provides a host of activities for students, including forest crossword puzzles, an activity book, Find the Fire Hazards, coloring pages, forest word find, etc. Illinois Forestry is a new website designed to educate citizens, students, teachers, landowners, environmental groups, natural resource managers, foresters and loggers about forestry and Illinois' most valuable, renewable natural resource trees. It contains information on timber prices, a big tree contest, urban forestry, new publications, research, forest management and forest health. Bob Frazee, U of I Extension Educator Whole Grains in our Meals In 2005, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) released the latest Dietary Guidelines. These guidelines included key recommendations for whole grains since diets rich in dietary fiber have been shown to have numerous beneficial health effects. Specifically, the guidelines recommend consuming three or more ounceequivalents of whole-grain products per day, with the rest coming from enriched or whole-grain products. In general, at least half of the grains should come from whole grains. Note ounce-equivalent in the grains food group refers to the amount of food counted as equal to a 1-ounce slice of bread, 1 cup of breakfast cereal or 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta. For children and adolescents, the key recommendation is to consume wholegrain products often; again, at least half should be whole grains. So how do we get fiber? Dietary fiber is found in fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and whole grain foods. Fruits and vegetables vary in fiber amounts with processing and form of the food affecting the fiber totals. Whole grain foods can be used to make cereal, bread and pasta, but we need to check the nutrition facts label to check the fiber. A good whole grain

7 product will contain at least 2 or 3 grams of fiber per serving. Look to see that grains such as wheat, rice, oats or corn are referred to as whole in the list of ingredients. Page 7 The average intake of fiber is 10 to 15 grams per day while the recommended amount needed is 14 grams per 1000 calories. So how do we add fiber to our diet? Pick high fiber snacks like popcorn, fresh fruit, raw veggies and nuts. Switching to whole grain products like oatmeal for breakfast or whole-wheat pasta or brown rice for lunch or supper is a good start. Including legumes and lentils in our meal plan can increase fiber as half a cup of cooked legumes has 4 to 10 grams of fiber. Other suggestions to add fiber include adding dried fruits to our meals and slipping some bran into casseroles, meatloaf or cereal. One tablespoon of bran equals about 1 gram of fiber. A couple cautions when adding fiber to your diet increase fiber gradually and consume adequate liquids. As always, check with your doctor, dietitian or health care provider if you have questions or concerns. For more information on whole grains, fiber and the Dietary Guidelines, including a fiber source chart, visit the government s website at dietaryguidelines. Jananne Finck, U of I Educator Zucchini-Couscous Bake 2 teaspoons oil 1/2 cup chopped onion 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced zucchini 1 cup chopped green pepper 1/2 cup chopped celery 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1 cup canned tomatoes 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained 1/2 cup couscous 6 black olives, chopped 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese 1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 1 1/2-quart casserole. 2. Sauté onions and garlic in oil, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add zucchini, pepper, celery and basil; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomatoes, beans, couscous, olives and Parmesan cheese. 3. Spoon mixture into prepared casserole. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Cover and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover, and bake another 15 minutes. Makes 6 servings. Nutritional information per serving: 151 calories, 7 grams protein, 4 grams fat, 7 milligrams cholesterol, 23 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams fiber, 123 milligrams calcium, 225 milligrams potassium, 315 milligrams sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 meat, 1 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 fat. University of Illinois~U.S. Department of Agriculture~Local Extension Councils Cooperating University of Illinois Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment.