The Body and Soul lifestyle training program continues around Mississippi with events in Greenwood, Ruleville and other north Mississippi locations.

Caroline Watson Barnyard and Bobbie Allen prepare refreshments for attendees at the New Jerusalem M.B. Church in Ruleville (Sunflower County)

Members of the New Jerusalem Church in Ruleville (Sunflower County).

Members of the Living Faith Temple attend the Body and Soul event in Greenwood (Leflore County).

Carolyn Purnell with the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service displays the FDA Food Pyramid as part of Body and Soul healthy lifestyle training (Montgomery County).

Body and Soul Training in the Delta

From left to right: Jackie Hawkins, Regional Coordinator for Deep South; Barbara Young, member of Long Branch Church in West, MS; Ruthie Hampton, member of Hyman Chapel M.B. Church of Sidon; Earnestine and Howard Austin, members of White Star M.B. Church of Belzoni, MS; Bobbie Allen, member of New Jerusalem M.B. Church of Ruleville, MS; and Freddie White-Johnson, Project Manager of Deep South Network for Cancer Control and President of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Body and Soul Training in the Delta

Recently, the Fannie Lou Hamer Cancer Foundation received a $7,400 grant from the Mississippi Comprehensive Cancer Control / Mississippi State Department of Health to implement the Body and Soul healthy lifestyle program in four counties (Sunflower, Holmes, Humphreys and Leflore) in the rural Mississippi Delta.

Pictured above are recent participants in the 4-hour Body and Soul training conducted by Jackie Hawkins and Freddie White-Johnson, staff members of the Deep South Network for Cancer Control. These newly-trained Community Network Partners (CNPs) will serve as the coordinator / team leader of the Body and Soul program for their church. Their churches will receive technical support from the Deep South Network for Cancer Control, the Cancer Information Service (CIS), the Mississippi Comprehensive Cancer Control Program / the Mississippi State Department of Health, the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Delta Hills Public Health District III.

About the Body and Soul Program

The "Body and Soul: A Celebration of Healthy Eating and Living" program was developed as part of the National Cancer Institute’s commitment to promote healthy eating and active lifestyle in African-American churches nationwide.

The Body and Soul Program is a wellness program that empowers church members to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables every day for better health. Churches that embrace Body and Soul help their members take care of their bodies as well as their spirits. Body and Soul works by combining pastoral leadership, educational activities, a church environment that supports healthy eating, and peer counseling.

African-Americans are at high risk for many serious and often fatal diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. A healthy diet promotes good health and lowers the risk for these illnesses.

To learn more about the Body and Soul program, visit www.bodyandsoul.nih.gov or call the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at 1-800-422-6237.