During the pandemic our world has been facing, Extension has been a facet in the community that people turn to for knowledge, support and resources. Residents of Wolfe County both young and old are struggling to meet their most basic needs, including obtaining food. According to census.gov, Wolfe County’s population in 2016 was 7,159. 18.6% of that population is over 65 and 32.2% of the total population is in poverty. By these numbers, approximately 429 seniors over the age of 65 are living in poverty. Wolfe County is considered a food desert by the USDA standards of:

“Low-income census tract where more than 100 housing units do not have a vehicle and are more than ½ mile from the nearest supermarket, or a significant number or share of residents are more than 20 miles from the nearest supermarket.” 

Accessing nutritious foods is certainly a struggle for a large portion of the county, including seniors. For this reason, we have continued our Senior Food Commodities and extended our outreach this month by taking on an additional 24 boxes which brings our total to 348 boxes of food donated by "God's Food Pantry". Each month the Senior Citizen's who have signed up receive a box valued at $65.00. These are all items that meet nutritional standards set by the USDA. With so many folks being unable to leave their homes (economic reasons as well as maintaining distances to prevent the spread of illness) we further extended our opportunity to reach those folks by partnering with our local Senior Citizens Center to have individual's boxes delivered if they are unable to come pick it up. 

Another population we focus efforts on to help access food is our children. Each week throughout the school year our Office manages the Ann's Backpack Buddies program that sends home a weekend food bag to 150 children who otherwise would not be able to eat. During these times, we have partnered with the Family Resource and Youth Service Centers to deliver those weekend food bags to the kids. As a group we also deliver in teams, the school lunch program as well,  to better get food in the hands of youth in our county. While we are at the driveway, we also check on school work and provide additional resources to help complete the NTI work that the students are doing. 

While our day to day duties have changed, our mission remains strong...to help the citizens of Wolfe County. We hope that by doing this we can help get families and seniors through the pandemic a little easier.