During the 2019-2020 program year, everyone has had to deal with changes.  Unfortunately with the covid-19 pandemic, a lot of those changes wasn’t for the better.  In collaboration with the local food bank and the Owsley County Extension Service a series of lessons are taught with hopes of improving nutrition knowledge as well as food safety.  Most participants that attend the program are well below the state poverty rate, and along with the pandemic, it only added to the hardship of day to day lives.

  During these lessons, most participants arrive at the food bank with limited ways of storing the foods they are given.  We try to provide enough food safety information in hopes of allowing them to be able to store their foods to make them last longer.  Not only do the lessons help them with food safety but also they learn the benefits of the foods that they are eating.

  Many participants were surprised to find out how many different ways what they are eating can help their bodies to become healthier.  Also when told of health benefits, participants started asking about ways to incorporate different foods into their diets.  One participant stated that even though she didn’t like the taste of broccoli, but when added to a soup recipe she couldn’t even tell she was eating it and she was glad she did knowing how healthy it was for her.