Nutrition, budgets part of helping out

By SAMANTHA MACIAG
Leader-Post

Students at Thom Collegiate are giving back to the community just for the health of it.

Two Grade 10 home economics classes at Thom Collegiate were busy Friday morning preparing vegetable soup, bannock and salad to be delivered to Souls Harbour Rescue Mission in Regina.

The two-staged program was a partnership between Thom, SaskEnergy and the Home Economics for Living Project (HELP). The goal is to give students a better understanding of food budgeting and the importance of healthy food preparation.

On Thursday the students learned about nutrition for their young bodies and prepared nutritious snacks for themselves to eat. Then they talked about stage two of the program -- giving back to the community by preparing a meal for Souls Harbour.

SaskEnergy provided the food for both days of the learning initiative.

"It teaches nutrition and it teaches how to use your food wisely, how to feed yourself wisely on a small budget," said Candace Weimer, communications co-ordinator for SaskEnergy. "We're able to help the community. We're able to teach our youth about how to feed themselves and how to be more healthy. That just produces a healthier community."

Grade 10 students Andrea Neal and Ena Laferte helped deliver the finished product to Souls Harbour with their teacher, Cindii Orthner.

"The opportunity for our students to give back, a lot of students don't have those opportunities," Orthner said. "So I think this is a great way for us to provide them with opportunities to volunteer in the community."

Neal and Laferte said they learned a lot from the whole experience.

"I've learned that helping out isn't such a bad thing," said Neal. "It pays off after awhile."

"Before, I used to eat and never check expiry dates or information," said Laferte. "Since we've been in this classroom, we've learned a lot."

Both students agreed that they will cut sugar and frequent trips to vending machine out of their lunches.

"Now I'm actually bringing a lunch from home that has healthy stuff," said Laferte.