Building food skills and physical literacy for newcomer youth

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Published on Saturday, August 19, 2017

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The camp participants learned about healthy  foods with Sherrill-Lee Hyra.

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The Neepawa Banner

There was a lot on the menu at this year’s Neepawa and Area Settlement Services Newcomers Day-Camp! This project, supported by Healthy Together Now funding, provided local newcomer youth, between the ages of 10 and 15 with opportunities to build their food skills, as well as introduce some of the local recreation opportunities in the Neepawa community. Don Walmsley, director of Neepawa and Area Settlement Services, saw success with a past food skills project, supported by Healthy Together Now, that was targeted at the adult newcomer population this past winter and thought, this would be something to replicate and bring to the newcomer youth in the community!

“The partnership that we have been able to create, has brought people together to share their knowledge and passion for cooking, provide information about healthy eating in Canada as well as provide a great opportunity for our youth to be active and learn about what recreation opportunities are available in our community.  It was a tremendous success,” commented Walmsley.
Each day the kids arrived to camp, they were greeted by Chantal Morais, Registered Dietitian, or Sherrill-Lee Hyra, Health Promotion Coordinator, who work with Prairie Mountain Health’s Health Promotion Team. The morning was filled with learning about cooking and eating in Canada.  A partnership with the local CO-OP grocery store had kids going on their very own “grocery store scavenger hunt” learning about local fruits and veggies and other Manitoba food products while building their knowledge on how to stock a healthy pantry and learning some smart shopping tips.  With kids consuming many of their daily calories from sugar sweetened beverages, discussions were also focussed on where sugar is found in foods and building their awareness about the importance of drinking water as their next beverage of choice. Learning new breakfast ideas and the importance of this meal was also a part of the learning.  Even a farm tour at the Guillas Family Farm was built into the day-camp, so kids began to understand where food comes from. Kids were also building their food skills by reading recipes and preparing a variety of healthy foods, which served as their lunchtime meal. In the afternoons, local community facilitators along with, Settlement Services Summer Youth Program student, Jeasela Gutierrez, had kids moving and participating in a variety of fun recreation activities at Riverbend Park in Neepawa.  Our thanks to Muriel Gamey, Landon Cameron, Monica Poettcker, Ron & Dianne Nordstrom and Cristina Pichardo who facilitated the canoeing/kayaking, golf, ultimate frisbee, disc golf and orienteering activities that the youth participated in.
One of the participants was a very new arrival and she said “I never thought I would have fun at the start and I never thought I would have friends.  I want to golf with one of my new friends.”
“We couldn’t have been more pleased at how this first-time, newcomers camp came together for the children, from the participation of the local grocer, farmer, the support received from the Arts Forward staff where the camp was hosted, Prairie Mountain Health support, all the community members who helped with the activities, the funding available, and all the families that had their children at camp each day, stated Walmsley. “It was something I hope the children remember as one of their highlights this summer and something that we can offer again next year!” The camp included a trip to the Guillas family farm, in the Eden area, to learn about agriculture and where food comes from.