On Sunday 29th of April Gill Ginn and myself, Cheryl Mac Neil participated as representatives of HEIA in the Kid’s Fest at the Botanical Gardens. The idea of the day was to promote healthy eating and healthy lifesyle issues to kids and their families.
We were part of a terrific group of people, all volunteers. They were representatives of community based groups such as; Child Health Association, Food Patch Project, Save the Children, Diabetes Australia Tasmania, Oral Health Services, Dieticians Assoc, Country Women’s Assoc, National Heart Foundation, Jumping Jacks, Australian Breastfeeding Assoc, Eat well Tasmania, School Canteen Assoc, The Cancer Council and the Royal Hobart Hospital.
Gill and I prepared Vietnamese Rice Rolls at two large tressle tables covered with bright cloths and an even brighter array of freshly prepared carrot, capsicum,rice noodles, coriander, spring onions and mint served with sweet chilli dipping sauce. One hundred and twenty happy customers filled, rolled and dipped until supplies ran out some hours later.
Despite a dull, damp, early start to the day, the gardens gradually became full of activity and lots of enthusiastic smiling faces. We were all thrilled with the interest in what we had to offer and even more pleased and encouraged that not one child said “I don’t like it”.
After a debriefing morning tea today we all agreed it had been a great success. It has been suggested that something similar could be done at the Summer Festival and that the gardens event is perhaps earlier in the season as we did clash with a lot of other events on that day. However you might say that altogether we were “wrapped” with the interest in our activities and the opportunity to promote healthy eating in a novel setting.
Melinda Williams

 

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Updated in September 2007