Welfare Challenge with Etienne Nemanishen

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Etienne Nemanishen and discuss how the welfare challenge that she partook in went. The welfare challenge is an activity that some members of group 5 decided to take on based on the fact that an average person on welfare only receives $26 a week for food. Etienne is a Nutritional Science major and based on her educational background she said that it was hard for her to meet her nutritional requirements for the week because she was not able to purchase as many fruits and vegetables as she hopped she would. She was only able to purchase a day’s worth of fruits and vegetables, which she consumed over the course of a week.  All of her shopping was done at No Frills because it was the only thing she could afford.

Part of the challenge was to not add salt, spices and herbs unless you bought them with the $26 and to not accept free food from others. “It’s impossible to live on welfare without accepting free food” she said. She reported that she felt unsatisfied throughout the week and pointed out that if she did not like the food that she had cooked she didn’t have the luxury of making a new meal or freezing it for later, she had to eat what she made otherwise she would go hungry for the day. Other limitations and restrictions that she faced were no alcohol, coffee or eating out. But it was worth it as she got to challenge herself and gain the human experience.

The biggest hurdle that she faced was the low calorie intake and having little energy to get her through the day. “My friends would see how tired I looked and would offer to buy me food but I couldn’t accept.” Etienne’s productivity with schoolwork was hindered; she was tired most of the day and could not concentrate.

Now that you know your fellow classmates have taken the initiative to live in someone else’s shoes, will you?

-H

November 19, 2012Permalink Leave a comment

Group 26: Fundraising Booklet

Remember hot lunches in elementary school? Hot dogs sales, pizza sales and lots of other delicious junk food that our parents didn’t pack for us but our schools treated us to once in a while. Well contrary to popular belief schools did not have those because they think we’re special students, they’re held to raise money for the school and various activities.

At Sexsmith Community School, they have recognized that fundraising can be done in ways that are beneficial to students and potentially educational and so they have asked group 26 to help them create a healthy fundraising booklet. The school has two parties that require funding, the PAC and the Green team. The Parent Advisory Committee needs $25,000 to buy a new adventure playground of their new school and the Green team wants to buy new garden beds to be used as outdoor classrooms. So group 26 has went ahead and prepared a booklet with multiple ideas, ranging from raffle baskets, breakfast with parents and a walking-bus. This booklet should provide teachers and parents with ideas that are reusable and profitable.

What was your favorite school fundraiser?

-H

November 19, 2012Permalink Leave a comment

University Hill Elementary

Group 25

Project Goal:
To determine the pros and cons of an edible garden program at University Hill Elementary by evaluating various sites at the school that could serve as a potential space for the garden. Their research will be used by school coordinators to apply for a grant.

The Journey:
This group started off confused due to a number of communication mishaps, they thought they were doing one thing, but they were actually doing something completely different, and no one was really quite sure what that was. Eventually they got in touch with the Vancouver School Board’s dietician who led them on the path to establishing their research question. They worked with grades 1,3,5 and 6. They got the kids to sample different foods that could potentially be grown in the gardens and did an art project with them where they created their idea of what a garden should look like.

Group Dynamic:
This group is very large and they’ve had their share of communication issues. The biggest one has been trying to get everyone together to work out the project details, but they have figured it out and are well on their way to completing their project!

 

November 18, 2012Permalink Leave a comment

Village Vancouver Transition Society

Group 10

Project Goal:

Identifying the existing food assets in the Marpole community by looking at food related organizations in the community. They aim to create connections, list the food assets and map them for their community partner. They want to start a food network by connecting Village Vancouver to the Marpole food community to allow for Village Vancouver to make the food assests more resilient and provide aid.

The Journey:

Group 10 has had many ups and downs. They started out working with Village Vancouver however their research project didn’t initially have any research involved in it and was therefore rejected after they presented their CBEL proposal. The group really liked their original project and was disappointed when it fell apart however they began working with Eduardo instead. The transition was a difficult one. Fate stepped in and reintroduced their community partner into their lives when a few group members ran into him at the Vancouver Food Policy meeting. He wasn’t aware that they weren’t going to be working with him anymore so the group members felt extremely awkward and were furiously whispering to each other during the meeting trying to figure out if they should just quietly leave. Eventually they made contact with him and informed him that their original project was about to be sacked because it lacked a research aspect. They were able to work out a new project with him after discussing things for half an hour and were back on track to working with Village Vancouver! They are now on their way to achieving their research goals.

Group Dynamic:

This group consists of a collection of strong personalities, different work styles, and has had to deal with lots of compromise due to busy school schedules. Many of the members are interested in furthering their studies with Village Vancouver through directed studies. Their biggest challenge has been communicating with their community partner and deciding on the boundaries of their project to ensure tangible results. They have had lots of help from their TA and their break out room peers! They’ve had a rough start but feel like they are on the road to accomplishing their goals and have used the hardships to become even better at working together and feel more equipped to dealing with similar problems in real life situations.

November 18, 2012Permalink Leave a comment

Independent Interview: Tea with Raisa

We were sitting down over some granola bars in Agora when Raisa Ramdeen began to tell me about her group project for LFS 350. She is in group 27 working on one of the many Think&EatGreen@School projects, this one specifically located at Tyee Elementary School. The objective of their project is garden management planning, which will include creating cold frames and a mini crop rotation plan. A cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure that protects garden beds in the winter from the harsh weather but still allows sunlight to be admitted through the transparent roof. Cold frames help extend the growing season; this will help extend the outdoor learning experience for students at Tyee Elementary. There are currently 8 beds at the school, one for each division.

As we continued to sip on warm cups of green tea Raisa shared with me her enthusiasm for the work that herself and her group will be doing next Wednesday, November 7th. They will complete their work by assembling the cold frames with the students. “We are enjoying our project as we get to gain experience in school garden planning and apply concepts which we have learned in the LFS course series” she said. Are you excited to find out what will be growing at Tyee Elementary? Hopefully lots of fresh greens that will inspire the students to think and eat GREEN at school!

-H

November 4, 2012Permalink Leave a comment

Group 7: Quest Food Exchange

Quest food exchange has been around for 23 years, serving the community with low-cost groceries for individuals that find it hard to make ends meet. Individuals who are on financial aid or welfare are eligible to receive memberships or vouchers for Quest purchases. They have 3 different locations in the lower mainland, two in Vancouver and one in Surrey. Quest food exchange’s main goal is to reduce waste and provide low-cost groceries at their markets and by delivering raw food materials to agencies for their own meal programs. Volunteering opportunities are available for individuals who wish to give back to the community and receiving low-cost food at the same time. For every 4 hours of volunteer work, volunteers receive a $13 voucher to spend at Quest markets. But training these individuals is costly and takes up a lot of time, especially when volunteers flake out. This is where group 7 comes in; they are creating a volunteer manual for Quest food exchange to cut down on training time and funding. This will be a take home manual, which will include all the instructions and tools required for volunteers who wish to work at Quest food exchange.  Quest has requested that it be a simple and straightforward instruction manual because most volunteers are refugees that may or may not have the adequate language and/or computer skills.

-H

November 4, 2012Permalink Leave a comment

Group 23: The Story Of Bread

The food system is a frequently used term in dialogs and discussions about health, food, nutrition and the community.  It includes all processes used to feed a population. This is what group 23 has done with the story of bread; using bread as the study case to demonstrate the infrastructure involved in the food system. Two workshops have been conducted at Tyee Elementary School for 6th and 7th grade students and a third will be facilitated within the next two weeks to complete this Think&Eat@School project. Students were introduced to the story of bread, grain production and how it’s farmed, harvested and made through 5 different activities. These activities included milling, nutrition fact tables and different grains. Part of group 23’s approach and methods of collecting qualitative feedback about these workshops is allocating time for students to create mind maps in groups.  Group 23 reported that most students knew a lot more than expected about the food systems but a certain group of students had some feedback that was different from all other groups in the 6th and 7th grade at Tyee elementary school. When asked what food means to them, this group responded with names of fast food chains and other unhealthy food choices. It is interesting to see how some students group together, and perhaps report answers that may not be true to themselves due to the sense of belonging (i.e. peer pressure) to fit in with their group mates. Hopefully this will change by the end of the third workshop, where they will all participate in preparing bread with group 23. What type of bread will they be preparing? You’ll just have to stay tuned to find out.

-H

November 4, 2012Permalink Leave a comment

Welcome!

Welcome to the 2012 Land, Food & Community 350 series!

This blog is a composite of the many terrific experiential learning stories taking place within our LFS 350 class this term! Our students are working together and with community partners to solve land and food system sustainability issues using their knowledge and skills to enhance food security and create a positive relationship with their community.

October 19, 2012Permalink 1 Comment