INUVIK
A group of students at East Three Secondary School have discovered one of the best ways to raise money might be to throw an event that appeals to the belly.

East Three Secondary students Alison McDonald and Chris Church were two of the participants in the Evening of Local Foods fundraiser on Nov. 17. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

The East Three Secondary Exploration Group is comprised of about 10 students, many of whom are interested in pursuing a career in the food industry or culinary arts, East Three teacher Patrick Gauley-Gale said.

He's helping them organize a trip next May through the Yukon and British Columbia to visit several post-secondary institutions specializing in that education stream. Other schools will be added to the list as well.

The entire tour is likely to cost around $25,000, Gauley-Gale said.

"It's mostly for students in foods with a personal interest in the subject matter or hoping for a career path. We're also hoping to develop some comfort levels with post-secondary institutions for these students," he continued.

Gauley-Gale said one of the difficulties students from the smaller communities in the NWT face is being overwhelmed at the prospect of moving to a large urban centre in the south to attend school. Tours like this should hopefully alleviate some of those anxieties.

The Evening of Local Foods event was the first fundraiser for the tour. The concept was derived from the 100-Mile Diet that's gained popularity in the south over the last few years. Virtually all of the food was either grown by the students, or gathered by them in the Inuvik region, Gauley-Gale said.

For some time, he's worked with the students in his classes on a gardening program in the school. He also signs up for a plot at the Inuvik Community Greenhouse, where the students work at growing foodstuffs.

"Each dish would feature something the students gathered locally or grew themselves," Gauley-Gale said. "We had kale, tomatoes, herbs, char, muskox through the IRC (Inuvialiut Regional Corporation), local berries, etc. It's the same kind of idea as the 100-Mile Diet."

The event was met with rave reviews from the 70 guests who attended.

"It was great and gave the students a chance to showcase what they were working on," said Gauley-Gale. "They were really enthusiastic and said the dishes were wonderful and creative."

"It was absolutely brilliant," said Freda Azam.

"I like the concept of using reasonably local food," Paul Arthorne said.

The dinner raised about $2,000, Gauley-Gale said, which is a good start on the money needed for the tour.

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