HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAMS
LUSH Valley offers a wide range of multicultural and skills-based cooking classes for community members of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels. Many programs are free, but where there is a cost associated, a limited number of bursaries are available to individuals with financial barriers.
To be notified when volunteer opportunities arise, please register as a Volunteer. To browse upcoming Healthy Food programs, visit the Events page of our website.
HEALTHY STUDENT MEAL PROGRAM
In partnership with Indigenous Education, the Healthy Student Meal program serves nutritious meals and snacks to over 1000 students in 20 Comox Valley schools each week.
On Mondays, LUSH Valley volunteers prepare meal kits with recipe cards and whole food ingredients that are then delivered to schools across the Comox Valley by volunteer drivers. Once the kits reach the schools, Indigenous Support Workers lead students in preparing a meal for their peers.
When LUSH Valley joined the program in 2019, the goal was to incorporate more locally-grown and produced food. Currently, LUSH Valley works with over 20 local Farms to source produce for the meal kits, and purchases meat from the Butcher’s Block primarily.
The Healthy Student Meal program allows Indigenous Support Workers to spend quality time with students, increases students’ food skills and food literacy, and provides healthy alternatives to prepackaged lunches for any and all students who need them.
HEALTHY FOODS COOKING WORKSHOPS
From canning and fermentation to multicultural menus, our Healthy Foods Programs have got you covered! We work with several different facilitators, each with their own unique skillset, to deliver a variety of food skills programming to the Comox Valley community.
Community Kitchen classes teach important cooking and food processing skills to a variety of participants in a welcoming and engaging environment. Because LUSH Valley sees food as a tool for empowerment, we aim to provide the resources, knowledge and barrier-free opportunities for individuals to learn how to cook and prepare healthy food with confidence.
LUSH Valley also offers FoodSafe Level 1 training on a quarterly basis so that individuals can gain safe food-handling skills that are not only beneficial, but are necessary when cooking for group, organization or in a professional setting.
For upcoming Community Kitchen and FoodSafe classes, visit the Events Page of our website.
YOUNG COOKS
In our Young Cooks programs, youth aged 6-14:
- Learn to cook for themselves and their families
- Improve their knowledge on our local food systems
- Develop positive relationships with healthy food
- Learn to read and create recipes in a safe, supported environment
Classes take on a variety of forms from after-school programs to week-long summer camps. Classes cover a variety of wholesome and nutritious appetizer, snack, entree, drink and dessert recipes. For upcoming Young Cooks programs in the Comox Valley, visit the Events Page of our website.
