Vic High students with the Vital Youth Program choose to support Good Food Box with funds
>> Vita Yates
For the 13th year in a row, Victoria High School was fortunate enough to participate in the Vital Youth program. Through the Victoria Foundation, eight schools are allocated $2,500 to donate to a local charity of their choice. This year, our group of five met about once a week starting in January and began by discussing the different areas of need that we felt most passionate about. One topic that became an area of shared interest within our group was that of food sustainability and access to healthy produce.
Through our research, we learned about and became interested in Fernwood NRG’s Good Food Box Program. A representative from the organization met with our group to share some more information about what they do and what their values are. We learned of their goal to make healthy, local produce accessible to more families. We also loved that they prioritize locally grown, seasonal, and unsprayed produce. The Good Food Box also has an initiative that takes place during the holiday season called The Gift of Good Food which helps families who might otherwise not be able to afford fresh produce.
Our group was invited to help package the produce one Wednesday morning. We were kept very busy unloading the delivery truck and counting fruits and vegetables. It was a really fun and interesting experience for us. Through our volunteer work, we gained a better understanding of the organization and their beliefs. We loved being involved in the process of sorting the bags and some of us even decided to continue volunteering biweekly!
We feel extremely grateful for this opportunity to learn about, engage with, and help this amazing organization. As a result of this amazing experience, we decided to donate half of our grant to the Good Food Box Program. The Good Food Box encourages sustainability, health, and happiness in our community and we are so lucky to have gotten to learn about it and the work of Fernwood NRG.
