Band brings food co-op to valley

Page 4

The cost of feeding a family can be a big chunk of your monthly expenses. And sometimes, buying fresh produce becomes a burden that the family budget cannot bear.

To help solve that problem, the Good Food Co-op has been established in the East Kootenay region of the Columbia Valley.

Patsy Nicholas, a member of the Columbia Lake Band and an employee at the Akisqnuk Heath Centre, said she heard about the program when she was at a Canada Nutrition Program workshop in Cranbrook.

"The first day all the bands were meeting with the Community Health Workers Association, out of Vernon, who put the whole workshop on," said Nicholas.

"We were doing the Canada prenatal nutrition program."

A community kitchen, food bank and good food box were all programs that were discussed in the group.

Nicholas said although she knew there was already a food bank and community kitchen started in the valley, the good food box idea was "one we didn't know about. So I took the package and handed it over to our health nurse here.

"The idea is to ensure nutritious food for cheap prices using our local resources," Nicholas added.

So a family or individual can pay (for example) $10 at the start of the month and at the end of the month receive a box with $20 worth of fresh produce.

Nicholas said there is a concern that many members of the Columbia Lake Band are not getting enough fresh fruits and vegetables to be healthy.

"But the program was too big for just Columbia Lake, so we went valley-wide, and that's where Gail Hoffmann (of the Christmas Bureau and Columbia Valley Food Bank), Reverend Michael Rice, Dr. Mike Walsh and Pat Cope (also of the food bank) came in," she said.

"Right now we're looking for a volunteer co-ordinator to do the actual work of going to businesses and overseeing the whole thing. It would include everything from setting up pick-up places to organizing the volunteers."

The produce co-ordinator's job would include meeting with and asking organizations to join the Good Food Co-op.

"We want to use all the resources we have here. You know we don't want to go (out of the valley) and get corn if we can get it from people here. The local grocery stores and food growers are all invited to participate," she said.

The planning group hopes to have the Good Food Co-op in operation by September.