NDG Food Depot's Bote Lunch program unites kids through cooking

Every week,Bote lunch co-ordinator Beccah Frasier carries a trailer offresh ingredients by bicycle from the NDG Food Depot to the Walkley Centre.

That's where she and several other facilitatorsmeet a crowd of enthusiastic children once a week, for their regular cooking class.

Bote Lunch is one of several community programs offered by theNDG Food Depot.

• CBC's Christmas Sing-In helps raise more than $44K for NDG Food Depot
• CBC Charity Drive raises money for NDG Food Depot
• Click here to donate to the CBC Charity Drive

The workshop offersfree cooking and nutrition workshopsto children after school. Participants get to learn toprepare a healthy lunch, which they canbring to school the following day.

While the workshops are set up in underprivileged neighbourhoods, anyone can sign up no matter their financial situation.

Cooking together and eating together is a really good way of...bonding.- BeccahFrasier,Bote Lunchco-ordinator

The program's philosophyis that through food and fun, children can gain new skills and bridge gaps in their community.

"That's really what we're going for," says Beccah Frasier,Bote Lunch co-ordinator.

"One of our values is being open and we are lucky to be in a really multicultural neighbourhood ...Cooking together and eating together is a really good way of finding similarities and differences between our cultures and connecting and bonding over them."

Helpsupport programs likeBote Lunch

All of this year's proceeds for the CBC Christmas Sing-Ingo to help the NDG Food Depot, a community-based, non-profit organization that works with other community partners to address issues of food security in NDG and surrounding areas. Programs include: food and cooking skills, emergency food baskets, community gardens, and volunteer-run meals.