GAMETI/RAE LAKES
A new program in Gameti is delivering free boxes of nutritious food to more than 60 families in the community every month, say the program's leaders.

The Gameti Growing Toward Wellness program is providing healthy food boxes to 62 families in the community every month. The team distributes the boxes to 15 families a week on a rotational basis. From left, team members Michelle Ekendia, Linda Thomas, Allison Apples and Hunter Mantla. - photo courtesy of Michelle Ekendia

"They think it's great that we want to promote healthy living and that we're helping families by giving them groceries," said Michelle Ekendia.

"It's all healthy food so everybody is really happy with that."

The Gameti Growing Toward Wellness program began last year after receiving $40,000 in funding from the territorial Department of Health and Social Services' anti-poverty fund, said senior administrative officer Judal Dominicata.

Under the program, a nutritious food initiative was started to provide mothers with young children access to healthy food but was recently expanded to include other families in the community.

Ekendia was tasked with expanding the list of eligible families.

"We thought it was going to be difficult," she said.

"It took me a while to figure out that list. But when it was done, I counted 62 families in Gameti. So we divided that up so that we could serve groceries to 15 families per week."

Groceries are provided to families on a rotational basis throughout the month and while the items vary, a box typically contains whole milk, eggs, vegetables, fruit and chicken breasts.

Ekendia packages the boxes along with her team from Jean Wetrade Gameti School, Allison Apples and Hunter Mantla.

Families are then contacted to come to the elder's centre to pick up their boxes.

Being able to count on a box of healthy food every month is making a big difference for families in the community, Ekendia said.

It not only ensures families have a secure supply of healthy food throughout the month, it helps offset the cost of groceries, she added.

The program is also paving the way toward developing healthy eating habits, which Dominicata hopes will inspire more people to try and grow their own vegetables.

Gameti's community garden program began last year and now includes two beds totaling 43,000 square feet. This year, the program is expanding to include four goats and 38 chickens, all of which arrived in the community in April. The chickens will be used as both meat birds and to produce eggs, while the goats will provide milk, Dominicata said.

The community is also experimenting with seven different varieties of rice, which will be grown in rice paddies beside the gardens.

The food box program is a way to supplement residents' diets throughout the winter until the gardens begin producing, as well as getting families interested in ways to provide their own food within Gameti, Dominicata said.

Ekendia, who was born and raised in Gameti, said the project is fast becoming an important part of daily life in the community.

"I thought it was a great program," she said.

"It's really good to help out."

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