Our Nutrition Educators
Tina Snyder became Nutrition Program Manager in 2010 after working for 22 years as a Nutrition Program Educator at CCE-Tompkins. During this time, Tina has helped thousands of Tompkins County residents to improve their health by helping them learn to prepare for themselves foods that are nutritious, inexpensive and tasty too! Tina's son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at nine years of age, so she is familiar with preparing food to help manage his condition. Tina holds the Family Development Credential and has been a Certified Lactation Counselor for 7 years. She enjoys working with new mothers before and after their babies are born to help them succeed at breastfeeding.
Chana Booker joined our Nutrition staff in 2010, after working for 8 years at Southside Community Center. A lifelong resident of downtown Ithaca, Chana was enrolled in our CHANCE nutrition and parenting pilot, which she says, "helped me realize what I was already doing right " when parenting her 4 daughters. Chana enjoys using this positive, strength-based approach in nutrition classes to help others see what they're already doing right when preparing family meals. Chana recently had to change the way she cooks when her spouse was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and she brings her personal experience with this family lifestyle change to her work here at CCE-Tompkins.
Jeannie Freese-Popowitch has been a Nutrition Program Educator at CCE-Tompkins for 17 years. Jeannie sees the most important part of her job as "helping participants to see the strengths they already have, and feel the power of making choices for themselves and their families. Although our focus is on nutrition, the skills learned translate well into every aspect of life." Jeannie holds the Family Development Credential, which she says "celebrates the heart and soul of participant centered learning."
Stacy Nembhard is a lifelong Ithaca resident who became a Nutrition Program Educator at CCE-Tompkins in 2003. As a mother of 4 and foster parent, Stacy has learned to stretch her home food dollars in many creative ways, and she brings that personal experience to nutrition classes she has led at GIAC, Titus Towers, and the Red Cross Friendship Center. Stacy enjoys "working with people of all ages to help them come up with creative ways to stretch their food dollars and make better food choices". Stacy is also a breastfeeding educator, and leads classes for prenatal and postnatal moms.
Heather Ward became a Nutrition Program Educator with CCE-Tompkins in 2004. Heather works with youth at local after-school programs and TST Boces, with residents at CARS (Cayuga Addiction Recovery Services) in Trumansburg and Ithaca, and with the Community Justice Center. In 2005, she helped pilot CHANCE, a Cornell curriculum that combats childhood obesity by combining parenting skills and nutrition instruction, for families with children aged 3 to 11. The program recently was renamed Healthy Children Healthy Families. Heather holds the Family Development Credential and loves working with people who are open to making healthy changes for themselves and their families.
