Author: Robert Amburgey
Planning Unit: Bath County CES
Major Program: Building Healthy Coalitions
Plan of Work: Unrelated to a specified County Plan of Work
Outcome: Long-Term Outcome
2020 brought the community and the world a pandemic which added new challenges to extension. Offices and agents were asked to provide educational resources, change program delivery methods and act as community resources to help officials and local residents navigate through the massive changes that were occurring. We provided drop off and collections points for PPE equipment and published updates throughout the year to address the immediate need at hand. 2021 promised to be better, however we still face a pandemic, but with added hope due to the vaccine role out. Agents are still working to provide the much needed information as farmers and others prepare for spring and all of the challenges that are part of planting and managing during a normal year. But, as luck would have it, winter brought a new challenge with ice and snow causing major power disruptions and followed up the very next week with flooding rains, causing additional power and travel disruptions. Extension worked ahead of the storms, providing information related to food preservation during power outages and generator and heater safety. This information was distributed in the quickest fashion available, through mailed newsletters, social media, direct emails and hand delivered newsletters to try to reach as many local residents as possible to help them prepare for the upcoming events. Over 1000 contacts were made in a matter of a few days, many within one day. We hope that by being pro-active, that many people were able to act before the storms and hopefully they will continue to use this knowledge to remain prepared in case 2021 brings us some more surprises.
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