As the pandemic hit, the plans for our bi-annual Pumpkin Days were well underway! Traditionally, this day encompasses 1500 Headstart, Preschool, Kindergarten and first graders attending a day of activities, recipe tasting and stories all centered around pumpkins... they even take a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick their very own pumpkin. As fall approached, the hopes of hosting the day in-person at the Robinson Station for Appalachian Resource Sustainability diminished. Agents were determined to make this event possible for our kids. Several different agents, SNAP assistants, and program assistants made video lessons of safety measures, pumpkin patch tours, activities, and how to videos of making different pumpkin recipes. I prepared a video lesson on MyPlate and demonstrated how to make a Pumpkin Smoothie, which incorporated each food group.  The lessons and videos were collected onto One Drive for easy sharing throughout each county. In Wolfe County, we partnered with Family Resource Center to provide a pumpkin for each child and all of the materials needed to complete each activity. Throughout this new delivery mode, we were able to increase the outreach to counties covering District 1, 2 and 4. A little over 3,000 children were able to participate and enjoy the Pumpkin Days activities. Teachers really enjoyed the format because it could be easily implemented whether they were doing in-person or virtual learning. We had the students fill out a survey and the results indicated that:

-96% of students learned something knew

-89% of students would like to try one of the recipes at home

-91% of students learned something new about eating healthy

-100% of students indicated that they SHOULD have an adult help them carve their pumpkins

-100% of students indicated that they had fun doing pumpkins days