COVID-19 is a public health crisis for both physical and mental well-being. According to David Weisenhorn, UK Senior Specialist for Parenting and Child Development, “the uncertainty around COVID-19 is even harder for children.” Breckinridge County 4-H aimed to support mental health among youth during this crisis while following CDC and social distancing guidelines. The goal of the 4-H program was to provide hands-on programming for youth, using digital and non-digital opportunities. In Breckinridge County, 25.6% of households do not have a computing device, and 31.7% have no internet access (CEDIK, 2017), therefore it was imperative that non-digital programming reach families across the digital divide. Below are the non-digital programs provided: 

• The Breckinridge County 4-H Volunteers and Extension Staff worked together to select lessons from 4-H curriculum and mail to all 189 enrolled project club members. This program, referred to as Snail Mail lessons, allowed youth to continue developing their life skills and finish projects they had worked on together with their club members. Lessons arrived at homes with a letter and message from their agent and club leader. 
• The Extension Staff collaborated with the local Family Resource Youth Service Center coordinators to distribute 1,000 Extension bags full of 4-H kits, recipe cards, seed for their gardens, healthy living activities, science experiments, and more! The bags of resources were distributed by Extension staff and school staff at the school food pick-up locations. 
• The Extension Staff, 4-H Volunteers, and staff at the local nursing home and assisted living facilities worked together to promote the service learning project – 4-H Birds of a Feather. Youth and families were asked to drop off donations of birdseed, birdfeeders, and poles. 4-H Volunteers sanitized, filled, and installed birdfeeders at the window of each nursing home resident. Youth and volunteers were able to provide 29 bird feeders, 29 poles, and 4 bags of birdseed for the project to date. This has exceeded the project’s goal of providing a birdfeeder per resident, providing entertainment and well-being to the isolated and vulnerable audience in the facilities. 
• With the funding support from the Kentucky 4-H Foundation Mini Grant ($250), 4-H staff and volunteers will be assembling 200 “clubs in a box,” centered around 4-H project work and hands-on lessons from 4-H curriculum in Agriculture, Natural Resources, Cloverbuds (5-8 year olds), Family and Consumer Science, Expressive Arts, Leadership, Health and Nutrition, and Science, Engineering, and Technology. Each “club in a box” will contain 6 projects eligible for the 4-H Festival, the local qualifying event for the Kentucky State Fair. This program will provide youth an opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in one of the 4-H core content areas, while highlighting their work at the 4-H Festival.   

In addition to non-digital opportunities, social distancing led to a variety of new digital programming opportunities including:

• The Extension staff and volunteers have recorded lessons for youth to follow along. The 4-H agent created a new Breckinridge County 4-H YouTube channel and has shared 56 video lessons including Natural Resource (Entomology and Geology collections, Stream Team, owl pellet dissection, etc.), Science Engineering and Technology (DNA model, cell model, microscopy, DNA extraction, insect dissection, starfish dissection, squid dissection, etc.), Expressive Arts (e.g. pan flute, kazoo, mixed media, sculpting, calligraphy, acrylic painting, heritage crafts, tire stamps, etc.), Health (e.g. recipe demonstrations), Family Consumer Science (e.g. Swedish weaving, quilting introduction, chicken scratch / gingham embroidery, no-sew pillow, manners, thank you cards, memo board, tying a tie, etc.), Agriculture (e.g. container gardening, dog treats, egg grading, egg parts, raised beds, etc.), and Leadership videos (e.g. cultural lessons from Ireland, Scandinavia, etc.). Video lessons have been shared on social media and through the Remind alert system to 4-H members in project clubs. An estimated 80% of lessons have been projects eligible for the 4-H Festival / KY State Fair. On average, the Breckinridge CES Facebook page reaches 14,644 individuals each month, 2,789 video views each month, and currently has 1300 page likes.  
• Extension staff provided resources to local teachers to incorporate into NTI lessons to students. The 4-H Agent shared squid, starfish, and insect dissection videos and dissection lab manuals with the Breckinridge County Middle School science teachers. The teachers shared the lessons on their google classroom with the 616 youth (6^th,7^th, and 8^th graders) and held virtual dissections and discussions. A Breckinridge County High School Ag teacher and 4-H agent partnered together to provide computer science challenges through Google to 80 Agriculture students. A 4^th grade teacher at Cloverport Independent Schools partnered with the 4-H Agent to share the owl pellet dissection video with students and provide owl pellet kits at food pick-up locations.
• Qualtrics quizzes were developed by Extension Staff and KY 4-H Specialist, Ashley Osborne, to teach rabbit breed identification and dog skillathon knowledge to youth online. To date, 10 local youth have completed the online lessons.
• Extension staff provided online challenges and competitions for youth and families through social media. An art contest, photography contest, and baking contest were promoted on social media, with winners ranging from 9-18 years old. The 4 art contest winners and 6 baking competition winners received recognition online and prizes were mailed. One winner stated “I tried something new and loved it,” and “I am really proud of the cake and wanted to show everyone!” An online speech, demonstration, and mock job interview contest was also held, with youth submitting videos of their presentations for judging. Six youth were selected to compete at the area level. 

According to Amy Kostelic, UK Adult Development and Aging Extension Specialist, “negative stress can prevent (individuals) from feeling and performing well,” and “in unavoidable situations, (we) may have to change, accept it for what it is, focus on what is important or on what you can do, and adapt as best you can.” For our adult volunteers, the 4-H program strived to provide meaningful volunteer and leadership opportunities, through both digital and non-digital avenues to allow the adult and teen leaders to maintain a connection with the 4-H support system, have something to do they enjoyed, keep their sense of humor, relax, and get lost in their volunteerism task. Forty volunteers recorded video lessons, including weekly craft and gardening videos, reviewed curriculum and selected snail mail lessons, attended 4-H Council via zoom, stayed in touch with one another through the remind system, phone calls, texts, and social media, and worked collaboratively on a video project – “Message to 4-H Families from Your 4-H Family.” The video project included each club leader recording a message and the 4-H pledge; the agent edited the video clips and combined them into 1 video on behalf of Breckinridge County 4-H, with nearly 3000 views. The 4-H Agent also reached out to a different volunteer each day and checked on their well-being. The agent interviewed the volunteer for a spotlight on social media. Volunteers discussed: 1) who inspired them, 2) what they love most about 4-H, and 3) what are they looking forward to most after social distancing. Volunteers were inspired by Extension staff, other volunteers, family, and friends. Volunteers noted they loved the friendships, variety of programming, hands-on learning, working with youth, and more! The volunteers are looking forward to seeing their club members and catching up with them in person in the future. These daily touch-base phone calls and collaborations on 4-H projects kept Extension volunteers engaged during this difficult time and promoted well-being.