2020 brought new and inventive opportunities as Kentuckians and others from around the world, strived to stay healthy and keep food on their tables during the COVID pandemic. The holiday season for many, felt and looked different, though brought new opportunities to help and give back to others.  Kentucky Extension continued to be available and essential for outreach education and resources in each 120 Kentucky counties.  

In Campbell County, Horticulture and Family Consumer Agents teamed together to provide resources for local college students at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) for a Thanksgiving Dinner Drive. As Kentucky governors’ guidelines had limitations for college students returning home for the holidays, in particular international students, many were left without their family bonding time and struggled with meals over the holiday break.  NKU’s student food panty FUEL receives donations from many community collaborators including, Kroger’s, community members, and Extension to name a few, that provides students what they need to care for themselves and eat. When planning for the upcoming Thanksgiving Dinner Drive, over 200 NKU college students signed up to receive a meal that they could enjoy in their dorms or college living homes. Extension quickly teamed up with FUEL to provide can openers, recipes, next day meal plans, and family activities. Other community collaborators provided sliced turkey, dressing, potatoes, and a few other traditional Thanksgiving meal items.  

Horticulture agent supplied can openers for the participants after identifying that many pantry users were not choosing canned good items because they lacked the can opener, rather they were choosing canned good with the removable top, which limited their choices. As a result, the can openers enabled students to eat a plethora of food for Thanksgiving and other meals. This simple kitchen tool allowed them to now choose a wider option of canned good items found on the selves of the pantry. After receiving items during the Dinner Drive, students shared: “Thank you-I really appreciate FUEL NKU”, “Awesome, I needed these items”, and “One of a kind”.   

Both FCS agents in Campbell County contributed a bounded booklet with recipes which also included easy recipes with limited kitchen tools with thanksgiving meal leftovers. Since many of the students have or live with youth, fun family activities were provided to engage in positive family bonding opportunities. 

As a continuum, Campbell County Extension has continued to collect nonperishable items such as canned foods, toiletries, and dry foods with bi-monthly contributions averaging in weight of 30lbs. Campbell County Extension will continue to provide resources to FUEL NKU and once guidelines and policies allow hands on programming including cooking demonstrations, food prep, and other activities provided by Campbell County Horticulture and FCS agents will be scheduled.