UC EFNEP educator Santos Lopez retires after 17 years of delivering bilingual nutrition lessons 

Six weeks after joining a class led by Santos Lopez, a community nutrition education specialist with the University of California’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, Lorena was inspired to purchase a treadmill. She walks on the machine every day for 30 minutes, sometimes even longer, surpassing the recommended 150 minutes a week. 

In addition to exercising, Lorena now serves her kids 100% juice, instead of soda, and fills half the glass with water before adding juice. The family is eating more dark green vegetables, and she also invites her kids into the kitchen to help prepare meals. 

Lorena is just one of hundreds of Contra Costa County residents inspired by Santos to make life changes to improve their eating and physical activity habits. Lopez explains his job as “empowering people to reach for healthier food choices, to stretch their dollars, to keep their food safe, and to exercise.” 

Lopez, or Don Santos as his students affectionately call him, has been teaching Contra Costa County residents through EFNEP for 17 years and will retire from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources on July 1. 

Brenda Rankin, community outreach worker for Lake School in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, has been partnering with Lopez for the past 10 years to provide nine-week nutrition classes for Lake School students and their parents, even during COVID. 

“Santos Lopez is an amazing community nutrition educator,” Rankin said. “Santos contributed his great knowledge to teaching our families in the nutrition classes how to eat smart, be active, get moving, shop and save, read food labels, go lean with protein, build strong bones and how to make a change. I am going to miss working with him planning classes for our families.”

When he became a UC Cooperative Extension EFNEP educator in 2007, Lopez brought creativity and enthusiasm.

“With degrees in marketing and nutrition, I hit the ground running and introduced UCCE’s nutrition program ‘Eating Smart, Being Active’ to hundreds of parents across Contra Costa County,” he said. 

“Suffering a stroke at the age of 30 due to a poor diet inspired me to become a nutrition educator,” explained Lopez, who grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, and earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Central Connecticut State. The stroke spurred him to go back to school. “Going back to study nutrition taught me to eat healthier and how to become more physically active,” said Lopez, who earned a master’s degree in nutrition from the University of Bridgeport. “I knew I wanted to become a community nutrition educator and work with schools, public health organizations, and nonprofits which worked with specific organizations like WIC and food banks.”

Educators, participants praise Lopez’s impactful teaching style

Lopez, who is fluent in Spanish, provides bilingual lessons for English-learners.

“Santos Lopez has brought a rich understanding to my students over many years, which has changed people's lives for the better,” said Gayle Louie of West Contra Costa Unified School District, who teaches English as a second language. “There has been a clear ‘before’ and ‘after.’  After taking the class many students have cut down on drinking soda, and eating a lot of meat, – and have added more fruits and vegetables and exercise. Bravo to Santos for making such a difference.”

Inocencia Dacumos, a West Contra Costa Adult Education teacher, has worked with Lopez for over 10 years. 

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to collaborate with him,” she said. “Every few years, he has delivered a series of eight weekly nutrition presentations to my ESL class as part of our EL Civics Nutrition Unit – most recently to my online class on Zoom. Whether in person or virtual, he always did a great job.

“His sessions were informative, engaging, relevant, and fun, and they were always well-received by students,” she continued. “They consistently praised his approachable style and depth of knowledge. The ‘swag’ – cookbooks and kitchen gadgets – was also a big hit!”

Sergio, who is learning English at West Contra Costa Adult Education, wrote in Spanish to Lopez: “Every minute of every class on every Wednesday was very useful; all the information changed my life, like eating different fruits and vegetables of different colors like oranges, dark reds; the percentage and amount of sodium, salt, sugar, proteins, vitamins, etc. that we need to eat each day to have excellent health and share it with our family.”

“I totally adopted better health habits and every day my motivation to continue doing it improved,” Sergio wrote, adding, “The whole family waits for me to finish my nutrition class so they can learn what to improve.”

Lopez recognized for collaborations, making a difference in community

Leticia, a young mother to three young girls, has relied on Door Dash to help her put food on her family’s table. Over the eight-week course, she began involving her kids in meal planning, prepping and cooking. She offers fruits and vegetables at all meals. 

“I actually understand food labels,” said Leticia, who has taught her daughters how to read them. “My oldest daughter is borderline diabetic and was a big lover of sweets, but after learning to read labels she has stopped all sweets – no cookies or soda, just water – and is helping me teach her sister how to read labels.”

Lopez has inspired others to create a healthier community. 

“Santos is so wonderful at creating connections in the community,” said Alexa Erickson, UCCE nutrition advisor. “He connected some of the UC Master Gardener volunteers of Contra Costa County with First 5 in Concord, which resulted in a grant and the creation of a community garden on the site.”

Marta Flores, director of First 5 Concord, said, “Santos has been such a gift to our center and community. His nutrition classes are consistently some of the most popular classes we offer – families always ask when he'll be back! His ability to connect, teach and engage with participants in a warm and approachable way has made him feel like a part of our team.”

“One of the most impactful contributions he made was helping us connect with the UC Master Gardener Program,” Flores said. “Through that partnership, we launched hands-on gardening workshops and established a partnership which helped us bring our community garden to life, offering families both practical skills and a deeper appreciation for healthy living.”

The parents of First 5, which supports families with children age 5 and under, helped create the garden, which features tomatoes and vegetables. The children water the plants, learn how they grow and can eat what they harvest. On June 7, the First 5 garden in Concord opened to the public.

“The great thing about the garden is they’re learning how to plant,” Lopez said. “They’re using it for meditation. When the kids are not happy inside the building, they take them outside to the garden to calm down. The gardens are kind of a holistic approach to feeding people and meeting their mental health needs at the same time.”

Awards, helping others make informed choices among his highlights

On June 12, the First 5 staff presented Lopez with a certificate of appreciation. Among the compliments, it says, “Your work has left a lasting legacy in our community garden, in the kitchens of the families you’ve reached, and in the hearts of all who have had the joy of working with you.” 

In 2010, Lopez was recognized by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors for his work in the community. In 2019 and again in 2021, Lopez and his fellow EFNEP educators received the Team Award for outstanding service from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. 

In 2019, Lopez and his fellow EFNEP educators in Alameda and Contra Costa counties – Nelly Camacho, Jennifer Ferreira, Eli Figueroa, Adan Osorio and Molica Sim – partnered with 333 teachers to reach more than 8,000 K-12 youth. Those students reported a 71% increase in their ability to choose healthy foods and often reported sharing their learning with their families.

In 2021, Lopez, Camacho, Ferreira, Figueroa, Sim, Carla Moore, Jesus Osoria and Leah Sourbeer were commended for fulfilling the EFNEP mission by successfully reworking their nutrition lessons, which were normally taught in person with activities such as cooking demonstrations, to be delivered online during the COVID pandemic.

While receiving awards were rewarding, “The most proud and motivating factor of my job as a nutrition educator was the tangible difference I made in the Contra Costa community,” Lopez said, “I empowered hundreds of individuals to make informed choices about their diet,” which can help people prevent and manage chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease and diabetes, leading to longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives.”

Parents from Lake Elementary School wrote to Santos wishing him well in retirement: “We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our nutrition teacher Mr. Lopez for sharing not only his knowledge, but also his passion for wellness. Thank you, Mr. Lopez, for teaching us how to take better care of our health and our families through more mindful and healthy eating. We learned so much – and had a lot of fun along the way!”

When he retires, Lopez looks forward to visiting his 95-year-old mother who lives in Connecticut, traveling to national parks and continuing to contribute to his community.