St. Aloysius is a former parochial school located in Covington, Ky.  The school was built in 1933 and served students until 1979, when, like many urban parish schools, it was forced to close due to declining enrollment. Soon after, the building was renovated to be residential, and has been so ever since. St. Aloysius is a HUD/ Section 8 Community, featuring an independent living complex of 48 units with a variety of ages and abilities represented in the building. As you can imagine, not many of these folks have access to internet, and might be considered “unconnected”.

In an effort to share educational information with these residents, the Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent from Kenton County worked with their service coordinator to visit and share. Since 2018, monthly nutrition/health lessons were shared “in person” with the residents. Average attendance was 12 adults-25% of residents. 

With the COVID 19 virus in 2020-2021, programming had to be totally revised. The FCS agent and the service coordinator wished to stay in touch with these residents – especially during these times when interaction was nearly non-existent among the residents.  Working with state FCS staff and newly released programs, the agent revised the following program “challenges” with materials distributed through the service coordinator.
            -Sizzlin Summer – 12 residents completed 4 week challenge, held June-July 2020. Activity sheets focused on light exercise, healthy eating, food safety, and mental health.
            -Holidays at Home – Oct-Dec 2020. Many activity sheets, including Halloween and Christmas scavenger hunt were held in the building for residents. One resident set up another scavenger hunt on his own for his fellow residents.
            -Emergency Food Pantry recipe/food preparation assistance-February 2021
            -Big Blue Goals –June 2021 – 9 participated, 7 completed challenge
           -Bingocize – finally back with live exercise/game programs. Average 10 participants for this 12 week program.

Technology is great, but it was interesting and rewarding to serve these “unconnected” clients during the challenging pandemic time. 

Emmy, the St. Aloysius service coordinator, and her supervisor were thrilled with the level and variety of programs that the Extension office was able to provide to residents – especially during the past year. This final note, submitted by the service coordinator was especially uplifting. “By providing the residents with both educational and fun literature, they have had something to look forward to week after week. I have seen firsthand the change in the residents that these programs have brought. Residents are once again leaving their apartments and interacting with one another (from a safe distance) to find scavenger hunt pictures or clues together, they are working the word puzzles and stimulating their brains, and overall, in more positive spirits.”