Situation:

Due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, the Crittenden County Extension Office was forced to rethink the way we deliver programming to our clientele.  The week prior to the agents being asked to work remotely, we met and planned the best way to continue to offer quality programming without face to face contact.  

Educational response:

One thing we decided to do was offer “Grab and Go” bags with projects from all three program areas during the months of March and April.  We would "advertise" when bags were available on our county facebook page by doing a quick video.  The bags included educational materials for adult and youth and including information on gardening, agriculture, money management, arts, cooking, healthy living, STEM activities to name a few. Most days all our bags were picked up within a few hours, to start with we put bags out a couple of times of week.  Then went to once a week. 

Outcomes:

We put a qualtrics survey on our county facebook page asking people who received bags to give us some feedback.  Of those responding:  88 % of the audience polled picked up bags 2 or more times with half of that percentage getting them more than 5 times.   Because of the educational information that our extension office offered, we reached a new audience, 24% of the people picking up bags were new clientele.   Of the activities provided, families enjoyed (in order of rank of highest to lowest) the family activities the most with also liking agriculture/gardening bags, arts, cooking, STEM activities, healthy living, photography, sewing, natural resources and budgeting.  79% of the audience polled indicated they or a family member learned a new skill.  Most examples included that their family is learning how to garden and take care of plants while learning about seeds, soil, and how plants grow. Because of the activities and educational resources provided, 79% of people polled indicated that their families are making healthy lifestyle choices, 95% we engaging in more family time, 83% said they were growing a garden together, and 100% of the audience polled said they will continue to use the services that the Crittenden County Extension Service provides. There was also a place for people to add their name, address and phone number if they would like to receive more information about what the Crittenden County Extension Service provides to the community.   We feel as an office that during this time that we were able to still provide clientele with quality educational programming for the whole family and it was a positive service to help people and families during this stressful time.