Future for families

By Dion Teasdale
FIFTY families in the Healesville area will receive a unique form of assistance this coming winter through the Healthy Families Health Futures project.
The project, devised and coordinated by Healesville Interchurch Community Care Inc (HICCI), will give 50 of the areas most needy families informative and practical food and nutrition kits.
The kits include recipes, cooking and baking utensils, diet and nutrition information, and a dozen basic food items such as milk, flour, eggs and sugar.
HICCI Emergency Relief coordinator, Sheree Laumen, said the idea behind the kits was to give families new ideas about cooking and healthy eating.
“We wanted to help people to look at different ways of preparing food and keeping within a budget,” she said.
“The kits include basic food items and cooking utensils which families can use to create a range of different dishes.”
The Healthy Families Health Futures project was funded through a $3,500 grant from the State Government and developed in conjunction with RMIT University.
“We were funded for a project set up and run by volunteers,” Ms Laumen said.
“A team of 20 volunteers, including students from RMIT, helped put the project together over a 12-month period.”
Ms Laumen said all the recipes included in the kits have been researched, costed and tested.
“This is a really practical way of helping families,” she said.
“Its not about just giving out food, but giving families information they can use to make real improvements in their lives.”