The Covid-19 crisis of 2020 led to social isolation and a lack of face-to-face networking opportunities for many families across the Commonwealth.   Parents worked from home while children attended online or NTI classes.  Sports and extracurricular activities were canceled and families found themselves spending more time together, at home, than ever before.   While this was a challenging time in many ways, it also presented unique opportunities for families to connect with each other and to learn new things together.  Cooperative Extension outreach was a natural fit during these times, providing educational outreach including porch pick-up packets, video conferencing, online resource materials and telephone or zoom consultation.

Shelby County Cooperative Extension utilized social media extensively during the summer months to educate and uplift existing clientele and to reach out to new audiences. During the time period of September 10-October 7, 2020, more than 4,000 people viewed educational information on the Shelby County Extension Facebook page.   From July through early-October, agricultural and horticultural posts reached more than 8,300 people.  A few of the most popular posts included information about farm pond turnover (446), Rooted in Shelby members producing local foods (577), unsolicited seeds in the mail (871), avoiding ticks (247) and timely cutting of alfalfa (252).  The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program informational posts reached more than 300 local clients.  Posts containing information about the CAIP program and application period reached nearly 1,500 people.  

The most engaging single post with the largest reach was a video promoting our Family Foods Fall Fun Pack.  This porch pick-up packet contained fall gardening information, fun kids’ activities about local foods including a Kentucky Farmers Feed Me coloring book and crayons, KY Proud recipes and information about Victory Gardens.  The post reached more than 900 people on Facebook, with 185 engagements and nearly 500 views.  Twenty-five packets were picked up and each packet included a survey link from which results will be gathered.

Throughout challenging times, Shelby County Cooperative Extension continues to find new and unique ways to serve the community and provide cost-free, research-based educational information.