WATCH: Learning where food comes from and why that's important

• EcoCooks Club field trip to Helen’s Acres
• Teaching basic farming skills to kids

Empowerment through plant-powered programs is what one non-profit is teaching younger generations.

Jennifer Pont is a facilitator for EcoCooks Club, where afterschool classes are hosted to teach kids about the environment and how food can have an impact on the climate.

“It teaches them environmentally responsible choices that they can make in terms of their food choices and teaches them some pretty fun cooking skills with plant-based recipes,” Pont told Kelowna10.

The class met up at Helen’s Acres, a 24-acre community farm for non-profits, for a field trip to learn about farming and waste reduction. The group of youth were excited to learn facts about reducing waste and how to plant vegetable seeds. They planted carrots, beets, and arugula.

“It’s important for them to learn these skills at a young age because as a kid, sometimes they feel powerless when it comes to the impact they can make on their environment,” Pont explained

“A big part of our focus is teaching them that they do have power and they do have choices they can make to make a meaningful impact.”

Pont said the program is an effective way to teach kids about the process it takes to produce food and to show how food is connected with the environment.

“A lot of kids just think ‘oh, beans come in a can,’ they don’t know much else about that,” she said. “Hopefully inspiring them to do more gardening at home, growing their own food, chipping away at food insecurity.”

Another important aspect of the field trip is to expose the group to all of the other volunteer programs that utilize space at Helen’s Acres such as the Okanagan Tree Fruit Project, Food for Thought, and Mamas for Mamas. Pont hopes learning about these programs inspires the children to get excited about volunteering.

“They’ll know about these programs and these opportunities to volunteer and remember those throughout the years,” Pont said.

“They’ll tell their family and their friends and hopefully will get more and more volunteers spending time with these organizations.”

After an hour of planting seeds on the farm and doing educational activities, the group enjoyed a barbeque with, you guessed it, veggie burgers.