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Battlefords Boys and Girls Club has gleaming new kitchen

Submitted Oct. 21 marked the unveiling of a new kitchen, thanks to goeasy and their easybites campaign.

Submitted

Oct. 21 marked the unveiling of a new kitchen, thanks to goeasy and their easybites campaign. goeasy has been a partner of Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada since 2004, and in 2013 they announced they would support Boys and Girls Clubs by renovating club kitchens nationally. They have committed to renovating 100 club kitchens and the Battlefords Boys and Girls Clubs was one of the recipients.

In kitchens at Boys and Girls Clubs across Canada, children and youth are fed healthy snacks and meals every day. They also develop basic cooking skills, and learn how to make healthy choices about the food they eat.

“When we were approached to have our kitchen renovated by goeasy, we were very excited,” says Nicole Combres, executive director of the Battlefords Boys and Girls Club. “Some may wonder why we’d need a kitchen renovation since our building is only six years old. What most people do not know is the number of children, youth and families accessing services and, therefore, the number of snacks and meals we’ve served in our kitchen thus far. Even to our surprise, it’s estimated a total of over 105,000 snacks and meals have gone through our kitchen since its establishment in 2013 to 2018. I’d say that helps explain why we were in need of a renovation.”

Currently the Battlefords Boys and Girls Club offers after-school snacks, evening snacks, suppers and weekend snacks six days per week. In addition, they offer nutrition programming where their members learn about healthy living and how to cook/bake their own snacks, meals and desserts. With their new kitchen, they will be able to have better quality snacks and meals at their club, and improve the cooking programs that they offer while ensuring their space is conducive to offering high quality snacks, meals and programs

Combres noted they will continue to offer after-school, evening and weekend snacks six days a week as well as a supper program five days a week. Furthermore, they’ll be able to continue offering Kid Food Nation, a national cooking program, as well as Project Backpack, which is a national program offered to meet food insecurities facing our community. Because of this, they are incredibly grateful. 

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this possible, including the national contacts at goeasy, our local contacts, and the contractors and staff who worked hard to make our new kitchen a reality” states Combres. “To begin with, goeasy for our new fridge and dishwasher, our flooring from Battlefords Flooring Centre, the painting done by Erin Kobelsky, Doug’s Paint Shoppe for giving us a discount on the paint, Bernier Millwork for the cabinet and countertop work, Hawtin Plumbing Services for our plumbing needs, and Sasha Contracting who did an amazing job on our tile. Thank you to each and every one of you for making this renovation happen. Our kitchen is beautiful and we cannot wait to continue to showcase it during our club events!”