Partnerships Sustaining Nutrition 

Leslie County Extension has many partnerships.  Partnering with Feeding Leslie County Youth continues to impact health and nutritional needs.  During early Spring 2020, COVID-19 Pandemic swept Kentucky including Leslie County.   Healthy at home being an important measure to prevent spread of this novel virus required outreach to families while schools were closed. Data from Leslie County Schools show that every child receives free lunch during school.  Many studies indicate that over 50% of Kentucky’s families are below federal poverty lines.  According to Kentucky Health Facts.org 32% of Leslie County suffers less than good health and also experience 6-7 physically and mentally unhealthy days per month. Prevalence of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, stroke and heart disease exceed Kentucky averages.  

University of Kentucky 4-H Foundation offered mini-grants reaching out to assist counties.  Leslie County 4-H received one of these mini-grants to revive a Community Garden here in our City limits. Several youth alongside families and socially distanced with community members quickly worked getting their garden plowed and planted. Leslie County Extension through 4-H programming distributed fresh produce reaching 25 families suffering loss of foods during severe Spring time storms. Gardening programs began with 4-Hers getting seedlings and seeds and planting their gardens with families.   Weekly UK Extension educational materials accompanied the gardening projects both paper copies and also shared over email and messenger.  SNAP programming provided starter gardening bags to 15 families. Partnering weekly with each Elementary School with educational and informational materials like Healthy at Home and Chop Chop Newsletters reaching over 300 families was an effort well received.  Social media and website sharing from every avenue that Extension offers made available a variety of opportunities and activities for families to better enjoy their time at home.

During these unusual and difficult times community working together with common goals of sustaining nutrition and empowering our youth and families is an important part of our Extension mission.