Nutrition Classes

Thanks to a generous grant from First Bank, the International Friendship Center and the Literacy and Learning Center of Highlands launched a youth cooking project in the fall of 2022, held at the LLC. The center hosts six-week semesters to teach children, teens, and their guardians the essentials of kitchen and food safety and how to improve wellness through cooking. The curriculum, provided by the IFC, centers healthy eating that is affordable and accessible.

The program focuses on educating children and their families about the benefits that come with forming responsible eating habits early in life. Additionally, the IFC coordinates this program with financial literacy to help families learn how to best stretch their grocery dollar. Like much of Appalachia, we are battling childhood obesity and type II diabetes in disadvantaged, lower-income youth and address these issues head on through our curriculum.

These classes have continued through spring 2023 and we have received a great deal of positive feedback from parents and students. As we wind down this semester, we are looking forward to the 23-24 school year and are hoping to secure funding to cover the cost of paying our instructors for the classes. We firmly believe that it is crucial to compensate individuals for their work, that goes double for the women and men from the food service industry who have shared their knowledge and talents with our kids.

For more information contact T. J. Smith at tj@internationalfriendshipcenter.org