Food for Change

5 March 2022Sophie H, Mack ‘23

Along with a busy academic, athletic, and artistic schedule, at Brentwood, it is also important to find time to make an impact on the local community. For this reason, Brentwood offers many opportunities, whether it be on campus or off, for students to leave a positive mark.

Recently, through B-Well and the coordination of Ms Murray, students from Brentwood have been partnering with Nourish Cowichan and volunteering to help out however necessary. We have been engaged in various activities around the kitchen, making waffles and cookies, as well as chopping vegetables and skinning potatoes.

The goal of Nourish Cowichan is to provide meals to families and children in need. The organization hopes to provide a source of food for children who are facing poverty, which is a staggering 30% of all children on Vancouver Island. Food, especially food that is healthy, is extremely expensive and often students go hungry, making it almost impossible for them to focus to their best ability during school.

Nourish Cowichan hopes to reduce the effect of this problem within the Cowichan Valley by providing free meals to families and children. In order to maintain anonymity, co-founder Fatima DS explained to Brentwood volunteers that the volunteers and people who work for the program never meet the families and children that they are serving.

Over a span of four weeks, Brentwood students will be heading to Nourish Cowichan in Duncan once a week in order to assist in the preparation of food. There are two groups of student volunteers that make the trip up to Duncan on Tuesdays and one group of students that makes the trip on Thursdays.

Christine L, Mack ‘23 is a day student who has been volunteering with Nourish Cowichan over the past few weeks. She remarks that “I have had a great time volunteering with Nourish Cowichan and I feel like I have made an impact on my community, even if it is a small one. I also feel like I have learned a lot about some of the issues many families in the area face.”

Nyra C, Allard ‘25 who has also been volunteering says “I like volunteering because it gives me an opportunity to give back to my community.”

A big thank you to Nourish Cowichan for allowing us to help out in the kitchen, as well as to B-Well and Ms Murray for coordinating these outings.

Sophie H, Mack ‘23

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