Many families in Breathitt County are struggling to provide food for their households. According to Feeding America, 92% of people are below SNAP threshold of 200% poverty. To help address this issue the Breathitt County Cooperative Extension, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Senior Assistant partnered with God’s Food Pantry and Robinson Center for Appalachian Resource Sustainability (RACRS) to provide 144 families with a food box each month with items from each food group. The senior SNAP Assistant also provides healthy affordable recipes that coincide with the food items they receive and handouts on how to prepare and extend the food through the month.

Participants who received a monthly food box reported that they learned how to manage the food on hand plus the items in the food box to extend throughout the month. One participant said, “I learned how to use the items in the food box with items I have already to create meals for my family.