There were literally too many cooks in the kitchen. That’s why the Nutrition Program (Nitr’inkè-in Shi’ Hǫzǫ Tr’ëtä’àl) in Dawson City recently moved out of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Hall into the commercial kitchen at the Dawson City Recreation Centre.
“We never had a proper, sizeable facility to use,” says Jody Beaumont, director of education for the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation (THFN).
For the last five years, THFN has operated the Nutrition Program, which ensures a hot breakfast and lunch for every student at Robert Service School.
Beaumont says even when the program was only operating three days a week, it was putting out 1,500 meals weekly. During that time, it was sharing kitchen space with other user groups including Meals on Wheels, meetings, conferences and more. Things were just getting too crammed for everyone to continue operating safely, she says.
Fortunately, the City of Dawson offered up the recreation centre, says Ashley Bower-Bramadat, education manager for THFN.
Bower-Bramadat says THFN had talked about moving into a few different kitchens around town, including the one at Minto Park, but none were large enough to accommodate the program.
Ongoing conversations with the city led to the Nutrition Program moving into the recreation centre on Oct. 3.
Bower-Bramadat says the use of the new facility has allowed the program to offer food four days a week. In November, that will bump up to five days a week.
This has always been the goal, says Bower-Bramadat — that every kid has the same opportunity when it comes to meals, such as butter chicken, pizza, teriyaki chicken bowls, spaghetti and Caesar salad, shepherd’s pie and more.
“It’s really about the basic right that every kid has to have nutritious meals,” says Beaumont. “For every kid to have that sense of equity.”
Beaumont says there have been a few unexpected bonuses to the move. One is that parents are realizing a bit of a break from the financial pressure of rising grocery costs. The other is that students have a cafeteria experience.
Bower-Bramadat says meals are taken to the school for younger kids. However, those in Grades 8 to 12 walk over to the recreation centre for lunch. It gives them some exercise, a change of scenery, and, says Beaumont the classic “high school cafeteria” experience.
Not everyone is happy with the change though.
Paul Robitaille is the manager of parks and recreation with the City of Dawson. He says his department has received complaints from recreation centre users who say they rely on the concession booth to be open during hockey games and activities at the recreation centre.
In fact, two letters were submitted to council at the Oct. 17 council meeting.
Resident Rod Dewell called the move short-sighted and oblivious to the needs of the community during the winter, when most restaurants shut down.
Amelie Morin said that, as a parent of two young children who spends three or more days a week at the arena, her family relies on the concession for meals.
“Finding ways to feed your kids in the 30 to 60 minutes between picking them up from after school care and getting them to hockey is not easy,” she wrote in her letter.
Robitaille says he understands this perspective. That’s why the city is looking at installing a vending machine with healthy snacks, as well as candy.
The city also has an agreement with the Nutrition Program that the city will put out a tender for a private operator to offer concessions on the weekends during a number of bigger tournaments and events taking place from January to May.
Additionally, Robitaille says the city is talking with the program about how leftovers might be saved during the day to be sold at the concession booth in the evening.
He’s hopeful those who are upset with the change will come to appreciate the agreement, which is set to expire in August 2024.
Bower-Bramadat says the ideal situation (and one the program is working towards) is to have a kitchen at the school. Right now, she says the recreation centre is the only logical, realistic, sustainable way to continue the program.
Robitaille says he agrees it’s a nice user experience to be able to get concessions at the arena when you’re there for a night of hockey, but he thinks the partnership is a good fit.
“The benefit that this program offers is worth more to the youth in our community than to be able to get fries after hockey, to be frank,” Robitaille says.
Beaumont feels the same.
“We consider it, and our Yukon colleagues at the school agree, that [meals are] an essential aspect of the school. As essential as English class and recess time and all those types of things,” she says.
“The benefits our program could bring really touched every family and it might mean that it’s not getting your same meal at the concession that you might have become accustomed to, but it was seen that the benefits of the nutrition program would be worth things being a little different for the winter.”
Contact Amy Kenny at
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