A few spots remained available this week for a popular Sarnia cooking program for kids ages 7 to 13.
A few spots remained available this week for a popular Sarnia cooking program for kids ages seven to 13.
The next eight-week session of Kid Food Nation at BGC Sarnia-Lambton – formerly the Boys and Girls Club – begins Tuesday.
“We started our first in-person session in October in both Sarnia and Forest, and it was really successful,” executive director Jaylene Henry said.
“In the first hour our registration went live, we had a wait list of 50 kids and a significant list in Forest especially.”
The Sarnia program can take as many as 10 children per session while Forest has room for 15.
“We have a smaller kitchen and that’s why we can only take 10 in Sarnia,” Henry said.
Programs in both locations run Tuesday evenings from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Information about BGC programs in the Sarnia area, including Kid Food Nation, can be found online at www.bgcsarnia.com.
Kid Food Nation, held in Sarnia at the BGC location at the Lochiel Kiwanis Community Centre, teaches youngsters about cooking, safety in the kitchen, where their food comes from, how to read recipes, and how to measure and read labels, Henry said.
“And it just really works with the kids on their creativity and expressing themselves,” she said. “So far, it has been a really successful program, and we’re hoping to be able to continue to run it.”
While the Sarnia program has a $50 per child fee, the Forest program is free thanks to funding from the charity, Noelle’s Gift. The upcoming Forest session is already full.
“That’s a new partnership we’ve built out there with the Forest Kiwanis,” Henry said. “We received a grant from Noelle’s Gift in order to offer that for free for the children for this school year, so that’s really incredible.”
She said the cooking program provides kids with life skills “I think can be valuable for any child to experience.”
The program was offered across the nation virtually by BGC Canada during pandemic restrictions, and the local BGC location decided to offer an in-person version after restrictions lifted.
“With our summer camp, when COVID was over, we really saw the children struggle and really have the need for human connection,” Henry said.
“It was kind of a rocky start to our summer getting everyone back in the groove of being around people for the first time in two-and-a-half years.”
Because of that, Henry said they embraced the return to in-person programs.
Taylor Johnson created the local in-person version of the national online Kid Food Nation program.
“She was originally a chef and then she was a student at Lambton College in the social service worker program,” Henry said.
“We like everything to be fairly healthy. We also really try to aim for it to be doable and reasonable in their kitchens at home.”
Additional sessions of the program are expected to be offered through the remainder of the school year. Those added to wait lists for the current sessions will be offered spots in upcoming sessions.
Henry said she’s looking for sources of grant funding and donations to continue the program next fall.
“We’re really excited about all the support we’ve have from the community and I really hope this is a program we can continue,” she said.