Adaptation and Collaboration is the Name of the Game

Published: 2020
By Carrie Krug

The past year has brought many challenges and changes to Richland County FCS programming. However, it also brought new opportunities to adapt and collaborate with others across the state and nation. In response to our state stay-at-home order early in 2020, agents from across Montana spearheaded noon learning webinars. Topics were multidisciplinary, about gardening, exercising, foods, and more. As a part of the webinar series, Richland County MSU Extension Agent Carrie Krug offered "What's Available In Your Pantry?" reaching 16 individuals (watching live or recording). Also, Krug created an infographic of websites and videos related to food substitution in response to grocery stores' limited options (to pair with the webinar). The infographic was shared on the Richland County Facebook page, where the post reached 126 individuals and was also shared with others around the state. Another partnership formed this year was a collaboration between Montana and Minnesota Extension Services to offer a mini-series titled "Let's Talk About Discipline." The multi-state team was made of two Minnesota Extension members and two Montana Extension members (Carrie Krug and Brianna Routh, MSU Foods and Family Extension Specialist). The three-lesson mini-series (broken down by age ranges) reached a total of 85 participants live, with 198 registered and receiving the recording from Minnesota, New York, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, and other locations around the country. Yes, 2020 has been an interesting year, but it has brought forth new opportunities to collaborate with Extension from across the state and country to offer unique programming opportunities.