Traditional Extension Family and Consumer Sciences programming looks very similar to a classroom setting, sometimes hands-on, or in more of a intimate group setting that promotes discussion. Since March of 2020, all of Cooperative Extension had to be innovative in helping our community get Extension programs. In FCS, it's geared toward the whole family. Agents across the state and in Whitley County began to reach others with Extension knowledge by media channels, social media, and web conferencing. Whitley County Family and Consumer Sciences wanted to focus on families spending their time together, doing healthy activities. We accomplished this by creating "to-go" packets for families to pick up in a safe way, at the office, without contact with anyone so they could be worry free about being infected with COVID-19.

Our "grab and go" kits included the following topics: Baking, Plate It Up, NEP Calendar Cooking Challenge, Cook Wild, Sewing on a Button, Sun Safety, Mental Health: Journaling, Physical Activity, and Gardening. A total of 253 program kits were given to the Whitley County Community. These were advertised online and on email newsletters and the response was amazing. Each week, people would look forward to the new topic. They were encouraged to post on social media what they received and learned. There were pictures of baking projects, families in their sunglasses, and journaling pages. One participant wrote, "You are making a huge difference in my life..." and "Thank you for this great service! It truly does help me unwind after working in this virus. It makes some of the stress go away." One also wrote, " The closer to reopening the stat we get with this virus still out there the higher my stress levels get and your kits are and awesome help to defuse that. I love what you all do for our community and you have awesome ideas for kits."

We will continue to try new ways to reach our Whitley County community. The kits went over very well, but as the state reopened, we noticed a slight drop off in interest. We feel like this is because people found themselves prioritizing grocery shopping, or doing important errands with their time. Depending on the reopening plan, we could do these in the future in collaboration with an online class.