Success Story #1 Partnership with Serenity Center Dare to Care food bank

8/17/2021 

Beth Maxedon, Nutrition Education Program Assistant

1117 Frankfort Road, Shelbyville, KY 40065

(502)633-4593

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. The entire country was shut down except for declared essential workers. The impact of the pandemic caused a potential loss of income. Many families in Shelby County faced unemployment and the demand for emergency food boxes increased.

The Shelby County's University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Agent and Nutrition Education Program Assistant addressed the situation by delivering educational articles & publications to Shelby County's Serenity Center Food Bank. As reported by a food distribution worker, "the food lines increased by four hundred people each week."

The Nutrition Education Assistant or Family Consumer Science agent delivered two hundred publications each week to the Serenity Center. The packets focused on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on proper handwashing, the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture and Food and Environment's Nutrition Education Program recipes for budget-friendly & healthy food, budget friendly Plate it Up! recipes, and the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture and Food and Environment's Cooperative Extension Healthy-At-Home newsletters. The articles helped promote potential behavior changes to benefit and make a lasting impact to the community.