Omaha Tribe of Nebraska WIC Garden Partners with Community for Nutrition Education

Posted by Cheryl Kennedy, Mountain Plains Regional Administrator, USDA Foods and Diet Services in

Nourishment Safety

Nov 09, 2022

Jessika Free-Bass and Mario Ramos hold garden produce and stand with Cheryl Kennedy

It was a sunny drop working day in mid-October when I had the honor of browsing the Omaha Country WIC software. On assembly WIC Director Jessika Cost-free-Bass, I frequented the Tribe’s WIC backyard, which they use to grow make for customer nourishment training. For the Omaha Tribe, nourishment instruction is a community effort.

Totally free-Bass says that the Omaha Nation WIC method acknowledges the worth of incorporating Indigenous foodstuff and conventional cooking tactics into the WIC expertise to type a holistic strategy to diet education. Recently, they have taken excess actions to highlight food items indigenous to their local community, as very well as dishes and cooking approaches typically applied by the Umóⁿhoⁿ individuals.

Omaha Tribe of Nebraska WIC staff holds carrots from garden

This calendar year, the WIC garden grew tomatoes and WIC shoppers well prepared tomato sauce. The garden also made carrots, which the plan made use of to train strategies to get ready little one food items. The WIC back garden is tiny, so the system companions carefully with numerous group corporations to further its nourishment instruction attempts. For example, the nearby Umóⁿhoⁿ university back garden donates squash and indigenous corn to the plan for classes.

Omaha WIC also associates with the Nebraska Indian Group College, making use of their kitchen facilities to offer nourishment instruction periods and cooking demonstrations.

The WIC software aims to safeguard the health of revenue eligible women of all ages, infants, and kids up to age 5 who are at diet possibility by supplying healthy meals and details on healthful feeding on. As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month, I applaud the Omaha Nation for connecting moms, young little ones, and the group in celebrating healthy, conventional food items. It was a pleasure to see their attempts, and I take terrific pride in the position the WIC program performs in bringing better wellbeing fairness to folks in our country.

Classification/Matter:
Nourishment Safety

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