Community Kitchen and Healthy Living Program

Funding provided by Vancouver Island Health Authority

Staff Members: Wendy Vogels and Bridgette Grandison

OurCommunity Kitchen and Healthy Living programs are two of Wachiay Friendship Centre’s newest ventures. Although they are separate programs, they are designed to compliment each other.

The Community Kitchen Program has two functions: to feed Aboriginal people who are in need and to teach people how to cook and preserve food. Most people can remember their parents canning, drying, or smoking food but they are becoming lost arts in this day and age. The ability to preserve food while it is plentiful is vital to maintaining a healthy diet, especially to those on a limited budget.The Preserving classes are suspended until Mid summer.

The Community Kitchen serves a delicious and nutritious meal to Wachiay members in need. Memberships are easily available for$2 a person, or $5 for a family. On Wednesday mornings we hold preserving classes. We plan to vary the content every week to cover as many topics as possible. We offer workshops on topics such as “Stocking and Customizing Your Basic Pantry” and “Growing your Sprouts”.

The mandate of the Healthy Living program is to raise awareness in the Aboriginal Community about the issues to do with mental health and chronic diseases. Diabetes and HIV/AIDS are two of the chronic diseases plaguing the Aboriginal community that we have addressed in workshops so far. These workshops are well received and have resulted in some lively discussions.

Sincerely,

Wendy Vogels

Phone 338-7280

e-mailWachiay3@telus.net