The Numbers
1396 Program Participants
406 Hours of Programs Delivered
4051 Participant Hours
5320 Distance Learning Contacts
Distance Learning
With COVID-19 restrictions leaving our January-June calendar fairly light, we maintained relationships with our partner organizations through distance learning initiatives. Our 18 deliveries of farm mail and farm trunks to the 153 students enrolled in Head Start made for 2754 distance learning contacts.
Our ThorpeWood youtube account had 2566 views in 2021, though we know this number to be far greater as one showing of a video was often presented to a classroom full of children. We also virtually participated in the Frederick Children’s Festival and FCPL Summer Reading Challenge, but we were unable to capture this involvement in numbers.
Individualized Programs
While we delivered our distance learning programs, we kept the farm busy by holding individual and small group sessions for local high-need youth. We delivered 176 hours of programs to these kids, which accounts for 43% of 2021’s in-person program hours.
Traditional Group Programs
After COVID-19 restrictions loosened, the second half of our year was jam-packed with our traditional nature and animal programs. We explored the woods, partnered with our horses, played with mud, and so much more. Although our large-scale events were still canceled and the total enrollment of our main partner, Head Start, was cut in half, we still served 1393 people in our traditional programs. This is 71% of the participants we served in 2019 and 108% of 2018’s participants.
Summary
In a year dramatically marked by COVID-19, we delivered 406 hours of programs to 1396 people. We also served our partners through distance learning initiatives and offered much-needed individualized support to high-risk local youth.
With these small-scale programs and our efforts to fill out our summer and fall calendar to capacity, we are proud to have presented 1.5x more program hours this year than 2019 – which had, until now, boasted the highest recent program numbers. We now turn our energies to 2022!