According to the Kentucky Kids Count Data Center, adequate nutrition is essential for children’s physical growth and brain development however, in Barren County 21.2% of the youth population experiences food insecurity. During the school closures due to COVID-19 the Barren County nutrition education program assistant partnered with Barren County Schools to assist in serving hot meals to children in the community. Materials from the Kentucky Nutrition Education Program were delivered along with meals by the nutrition education program assistant with assistance in selecting materials from the Barren County agent for family and consumer sciences. These materials provided families with budget-friendly meal ideas, stretching food dollars, food safety, proper handwashing, and overall health and wellness.

During the partnership to distribute food and materials, the nutrition education program assistant helped deliver 630 meals and over 400 pieces of educational content. The school system began delivering 2 weeks’ worth of meals in May, the nutrition education program assistant was no longer delivering meals but to help assist families in knowing what to do with the provided commodities the assistant compiled a resource list on Facebook. The resource list which included links to recipes and proper food storage publications reached a total of 4,082 people.