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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, January 30, 2013 · 8 Trillium helps ActiveChefs bring cost-free programming By Domink Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Lessons about healthy food choices and how to make them in the kitchen is something most parents want for their children. While not everyone has the means to offer those skills, a recent grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) means the nonprofit organization ActiveChefs will be able to reach more local children with its cooking instruction. The weekly program began in Oakville just over a year ago and has spread throughout Halton and beyond. The Trillium grant of $135,500 over two years, will enable the organization to offer it free of charge in high-priority neighbourhoods. "This gave us legs. We were sustaining ourselves, but this gave us legs. We are able to grow now, we are able to take this program to places where we could not have gone to before because we could not afford to," said ActiveChefs founding executive director Aman Jaspal. Mayor Rob Burton, Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn and Trillium volunteer and grant review team member Bill Allison visited the ActiveChefs program in action late last year at Abbey Lane Public School, one of 22 ActiveChefs locations. Jaspal said the money will allow the organization to hire additional instructors. Currently, parents pay a subsidized fee to have their children in the after-school programs. Now ActiveChefs will be able to offer instruction in communities where parents may not have the means to pay the fees. Furthermore, it will allow ActiveChefs to operate in more locations, allowing access to more children aged six to 11 who may not have been able to take advantage of the program due to transportation issues. Wearing an apron, Flynn worked at a table with students helping them make that week's food, which happened to be falafels. He then spoke to the children. "You get to learn about food, cook the food and learn about making healthy food choices. We never had this. When we were in school, we didn't have this. You guys have something new," he said. The MPP also told students the OTF is like a large piggy bank, to which the people of Ontario contribute money. A group of volunteers, who is in charge of the piggy bank, then decides which community organizations will receive funding from it. Flynn introduced Allison, who was one of the members who decided ActiveChefs should receive funding. "I guess you could say we thought you have a good recipe for success," Allison told the students. "When the Ontario Trillium Foundation makes a grant, we do it with the idea that the recipient will make their community a healthier and more vibrant one. I believe helping young people discover the fun and simplicity of healthier eating choices is a positive step in that direction." The OTF funding will help pay for salaries for program managers and instructors, program materials and supplies, and fees associated with rent, communication, transportation and insurance. The once weekly programs run for several weeks. Each week there is a new national theme. During the OTF visit, the theme was Egypt, so students made falafels, learned about the country, listened to Egyptian music and exercised to it. Jaspal said she started the program when she volunteered as a parent lunchroom supervisor at her children's school. Upon seeing her daughters' GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @halton_photog hesitation to take Indian food to school for lunch, she wanted to saving lives: ActiveChefs received a $135,000 Ontario Trillium introduce students to various Foundation grant to help the non-profit group continue their aftercultural foods in a fun setting as school programs over the next two years.The announcement was made well as to teach children about in November 2012 at Abbey Lane Public School at one of the school's healthy food choices. As an two after-school programs. Here, Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn is surexample, the falafels were baked, rounded by ActiveChef participants as he shows the Trillium grant not deep-fried. plaque. "I really like (ActiveChefs) because I get to make foods and He said his favourite dish was chocolate chip then we get to eat them and they're really tasty," biscotti made in the first week of the program. said Grade 3 Abbey Lane student Daniel Zagar. Zagar later made the biscotti at home. Do you have a great digital photograph of a special place in Oakville? Have you ever dreamed of having your work published? NOW IS YOUR CHANCE! OAKVIL communit yGUIDE LE twenty-tw elve y appear Your photo ma of the as the cover OF 2013 EDITION BEAVER THE OAKVILLE GUIDE COMMUNITY 2012 COVER PHOTO BY SIOBHA N BYRNE E Please submit no more than three of your best images in jpeg format to jmuller@metroland.com before Friday, February 1, 2013 Submission of photo is considered permission to publish in this exclusive magazine