The CDC 1809 High Obesity Program 5-year grant was awarded to Family and Consumer Sciences Extension in 2019 to implement evidence-based strategies that increase access to healthier foods and safe, accessible places for physical activity in Martin County. In this third year of the grant, our team found ourselves scrambling to adjust to the changing landscape of everyday operations, a consequence of living through a worldwide pandemic. Our campus-based team was concerned about how we would continue to work towards the goals of the HOP grant without being able to be physically present in Martin County. Our team had spent the first three years of the grant spending a lot of time in the county building relationships with stakeholders, including the Martin County Extension agents and staff. To our astonishment, we were fortunate to witness the benefits of our relationship-building efforts.  While other HOP grantees across the nation experienced extreme delays in their projects due to partner-related obstacles, we were able to continue our work in Martin County, even from afar.  Our grant team adapted to the new travel restrictions by keeping in close contact with stakeholders via phone, email, and web conferencing. We co-wrote several grants with two different organizations.  While those grants were not selected for funding, our participation still showed stakeholders that were invested in improving their community, regardless of our physical location.  We were able to support a local food pantry by funding supplies needed to prepare their building space to accommodate a walk-in freezer and refrigerator they obtained through a God’s Pantry grant. The Martin County Extension Ag agent was able to utilize the HOP grant funding to implement a successful program that greatly served the needs of his community and addressed challenges created by COVID-19. Roger and the CDC HOP team were able to align mutual goals and a shared vision of increasing access to nutrition because of regular communication over the past three years. The CDC HOP team utilized part of its funding to purchase produce boxes and bags needed so that Roger could implement his idea to offer a produce box program where customers could purchase Farmers’ Market items by phone or online and picked up curbside. Time and effort required for relationship-building are often overlooked or under-credited because of the difficulty in showing concrete deliverables. This year, I wanted to highlight the success of the relationships built as a part of our grant work because due to abnormal circumstances, we were able to bear witness to the fruits of our labor.