Northern Ile a la Crosse and the pharmacy team partnered with the Family Tenants Association and Friendship Centre to organize a Community Kitchen. Weekly cooking classes and learning sessions create opportunities for people to cook together and build community strength through food.

Through weekly cooking classes and learning sessions, families learned how to eat healthier, at a lower cost, and how to sustain these habits. Each class is followed by a learning session on any number of topics, such as food and kitchen safety, smart shopping and label reading.

The program kicked off in March, with 15 families attending each session. Northern Ile a la Crosse donated $1,500 towards the cost of groceries for the classes and provided a discount on additional purchases. Store Pharmacist, Mike Bonertz donated eight hours of his time, providing both resources and educational information on nutrition and label reading, portion diets and cooking with diet restrictions.

Store Manager Sib Shaw also committed his time, offering to lead a cooking demonstration.

Northern Ile a la Crosse is proud to be a part of this community-led initiative and is committed to the health and wellbeing of its customers and community.