As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Bullitt County Public Schools’ Food Service Department found themselves preparing and delivering over 6,000 meals to children qualified for the free and reduced lunches throughout the county.  As the food service program began the process, the Food Service Director identified the need for a fun but educational flyer to be include with the meals. Since the food service employees were focused on preparing the food, the Bullitt County Extension Service offered to provide an educational flyer for each bag to be distributed to youth. For 12 weeks, the agents of 4-H, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Family & Consumer Science teamed up with the school food service to provide educational nutrition flyers to the children. Whether it was about eating your vegetables, the need for water or where beef comes from, youth and their families had a fun activity to do that taught them new information and gave them an opportunity to try new skills. With Bullitt County being an urban county, many people do not know about the services and education available through the Bullitt County Extension Service.  This partnership created a great opportunity to raise awareness of the Bullitt County Extension Service and provide information to underserved audiences.

The first flyer featured a lesson from the Expanded Food Nutrition Education program (EFNEP) and listed the Facebook page. During this time, the EFNEP Facebook page grew and reached over 7,000 new people, as other program areas saw growth in their social media following as well.  

At the end of the flyer distribution, recipients were asked to answer a short electronic questionnaire: 

•    66% reported they found the flyers useful 

•    Most reported the recipes and children' activities as the best part of the flyer 

•    33% of the audience were not aware or exposed to the Extension Service BEFORE receiving the flyers

The Bullitt County Extension staff has used a difficult time to reach more people and provide information to families that are in need.