The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a new illness that was first identified in December 2019, with patients reporting cases of fever and acute respiratory illness. Since that time, other countries, including the U.S., have seen cases of the illness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mason County 4-H, Horticulture, and EFNEP have partnered to create "Brown Bag Projects" and correlating social media videos for community members in Mason County. These brown bags are free and champion at-home learning for youth, adults, and families to help during the crisis. Our brown bag initiative highlights programs and lessons from 4-H, Horticulture, and EFNEP including: at-home gardening, STEM, healthy moving with 4-H Dancefit, making healthy choices relating to snacks and recipes, proper hand washing, agriculture, natural resources, expressive arts, family and consumer sciences, leadership, and communications. These brown bags are developed in collaboration with the 4-H agent, Horticulture agent, EFNEP assistant, 4-H/Horticulture program assistant, and staff assistant. Inside the brown bags, community members will find instructions and materials to complete the lesson/project. Along with the lesson, we also include informative publications that relate to the lesson, and supplemental items to go along if appropriate. For example, a 4-H Dancefit lesson will have the lesson printout, Wally Cat publications about physical activity and fun games to play, and a 4-H water bottle to promote drinking more water. An example of an EFNEP brown bag includes a recipe book, a healthy hand washing publication, youth SNAP incentives, and related publications about physical activity. A container gardening brown bag includes the container, soil, seeds, instructions, and publications about the seeds.

We have three large totes outside of our building that house the bags. Initially, we began with 20 bags wondering if that was too many and if anyone would be interested. The response was amazing. One Facebook post and two days later, our bags were gone. We then decided to offer a new lesson, and replenished the tote with more bags. As interest grew, we have almost tripled our output number in two and a half weeks, and are still having to refill the totes multiple times a week to keep up with demand. Inside the 4-H tote we keep a sign-in sheet to record how many people are stopping by, how many bags they are taking, and disinfecting wipes to promote sanitation. We do not think everyone is signing the sheet, so we are creating a Qualtrics survey to send out to also help gather data for evaluation. Aside from the brown bags in totes, people will also find EFNEP/Wally Cat publications, 4-H enrollment forms and brochures for non-members, Horticulture publications/information, and publications regarding to COVID-19 put out by the University of Kentucky. We began this initiative March 18th, with a full- week release beginning on March 23rd. Many counties across the Commonwealth are packing up programs "to-go" for community benefit, and as our bags have been released, they have gained more popularity. We have released over 4,000 bags since we began this program. Recently, we released a video lesson about honeybees on Facebook with a brown bag lesson correlated, and the tote was empty within 24 hours. We are seeing people sign-in and document how many bags they are taking each visit. So far data shows that most people who sign in are taking 1-3 bags, and are repeat visitors. A Facebook group regarding COVID-19 was created by a Mason County citizen and the 4-H agent made a post regarding the brown bag programs. Since the post, there has been a substantial increase of interest in the totes.

The Horticulture agent was brainstorming ways to connect with under-served audiences during the pandemic. Mason County's rate of poverty is 18.2%, which is higher than the state average of 16.9%. This led to the release of a newsletter to the low-income housing communities in Mason County regarding the brown bag projects. The newsletter highlights what Cooperative Extension is, who we serve, upcoming virtual classes/events, and our brown bag programs. The team discussed bringing the brown bags to the housing authority to further expand our reach of the program. This opportunity provides education opportunity to low-income neighborhoods during this crisis. Also, public transit may not be utilized to practice safe social distancing during this time, leaving residents disconnected and unable to obtain resources provided at the Extension office. The totes are refilled at the housing authority once per week. The newsletter also features 1-3 pages for Horticulture, 4-H, and EFNEP that highlights what that area offers, and upcoming events. We also encourage readers to call our office and sign up to receive newsletters based on program area interest. The newsletter also includes a proper hand washing publication. We are anticipating gaining new audiences that will continue to utilize Extension well after we get through this pandemic together.

We have done a follow-up with participants via email, social media, and phone calls, and have found that around 25% of participants were not previously involved with Extension. One parent made the comment "These brown bags have been so incredibly helpful during the pandemic. It is so hard to justify going into the store for 'fun' activities, and we are so thankful that the Extension office is offering these to help with being home". The brown bags have been praised across the county. Because of the brown bags, the Mason County 4-H Rally will be a success as the brown bags have followed along with entries and activities that qualify for the fair. Although the state fair is canceled, parents have been grateful for Rally to still have a chance to showcase their youth's projects, even though it is only on the county level. This success story has been updated to a long-term outcome because not only did 4-H participation grow, but adults and families have reported making healthier choices through the NEP brown bags and social media videos. In addition the horticulture agent made videos about gardening and gave away thousands of vegetable and garden seed overall increasing the diversity in clients vegetable gardens. 

This initiative gained even more momentum through the Younger Women's Club in Maysville, where they have helped assemble and distribute bags to low-income housing, school-age youth, and families.