The new community kitchen under construction at the Peter McKee Community Food Centre is receiving a financial boost from Medavie Health Foundation.
READ MORE: Moncton food centre gets provincial funding to help build new kitchen
On Thursday, the foundation committed $150,000 to Food Depot Alimentaire to help the food centre in building the kitchen. The overall cost is said to be about $300,000.
“The goals of the Peter McKee Community Food Centre align with the foundation’s support of programs that help people live their best lives,” said Medavie CEO Bernard Lord in a release.
The centre’s aim is to help teach people who use the kitchen proper food choices with the aim of preventing “longer term chronic health conditions” such as Type 2 diabetes, according to a release. Through the new kitchen — to be named the Medavie Community Kitchen — individuals and families will be educated in food skills to help promote healthy eating and prevent chronic disease.
The hope is the teaching kitchen will help provide them with culinary skills for the workforce.
“We bring them in and we get them to commit to a schedule and we teach them different skills like prepping vegetables and those kinds of things,” Ben MacMichael with the food centre said. “Food safety, of course, and once they have done their four months we partner them with a restaurant and we give them an endorsement.”
People will also be able to come together in small groups to cook meals for their families, food centre clients and other groups who access the facility or need assistance in making meals.
Dale Hicks, president of Food Depot Alimentaire, said they’re excited about partnering with Medavie in order to “provide and promote healthier food choices” for the region.
READ MORE: Moncton food bank community garden in need of volunteers
“The teaching kitchen will serve to complement our community garden as a much-needed resource for individuals and families to not only have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, but to learn how to properly handle and prepare nutritious foods,” Hicks said in the release.
In January, the provincial government announced $40,000 would be invested into the kitchen, which is expected to be operational next month.
– With files from Shelley Steeves, Global News
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