“Whoever Needs Food We’ll Feed Them One Way or the Other”: COVID-19 and Food Aid in Appalachian Kentucky

Abstract

In one eastern Kentucky county, the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn ushered in increases in federal and corporate aid. In response, families with school-aged children distributed excess food to friends and neighbors and donated food back to pantries they had previously utilized. In-depth, semi-structured interviews illuminate how public-private food aid amidst the COVID-19 pandemic was distributed to and within rural Kentucky communities and who was left out. I introduce the concept of networks of care, which comprise local systems of distribution among family, friends, and neighbors that challenge reliance on market labor for subsistence while demanding constant work to maintain. This paper argues that networks of care demonstrate the need and an extent infrastructure for large-scale distributive politics that compensate for this ongoing care work.