Support our Community Partners: Nutrition Plus

Image courtesy of Nutrition Plus, 2021.

Nutrition Plus is one of Yarn’s wonderful Community Partners. They are a non-for-profit dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous children. Nutrition Plus not only works to improve physical health, but also the cultural wellbeing of children living in remote communities. Access to fresh fruit and vegetables is the key issue that many Indigenous communities face, especially in remote areas. Some of the issues related to this include physical access due to remote locations, lack of education about the importance of eating healthy, and the costs of supply. These are hurdles that Nutrition Plus works to help communities and schools overcome. They are a group that is dedicated to creating bright, happy and healthy futures for Indigenous children. It would be wonderful if you can support their essential work through donating.

Here at Yarn a key part of our mission is to support the health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities, it is for this reason that we proudly support Nutrition Plus. They make incredible contributions to the wellbeing of Indigenous communities through helping children make healthy decisions from a young age. Currently Yarn supports Nutrition Plus with marketing through our blog, social media and newsletter. We are also working on an exciting project for their upcoming school cultural camps, which integrate hands-on education about culture. We are currently in the process of helping design and produce special custom tees for the camp participants and staff. The shirts will become a lovely reminder for all of the children of the fun times they had at camp.

Image courtesy of Nutrition Plus, 2021.

“Poor nutrition is cited as the number one contributing factor to Indigenous health issues with diabetes and many other diseases and illnesses often improved or even prevented by good nutrition.” - Nutrition Plus

This is why Nutrition Plus works hard at educating Indigenous communities about good nutrition, the key way that they carry out this education is via their Schools Program. Through this program they educate children, parents and community members about healthy eating with lunch programs, cooking lessons and the implementation of bush tucker gardens. They teach children the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables and help them to maintain and harvest their own produce. Nutrition Plus partners with Juice Plus an organisation that provides important nutritional supplementation through a range of products. For remote communities where access to fresh fruit and vegetables is difficult these supplements are the perfect alternative. Juice Plus’s blends contain nutritionally dense fruits and vegetables in the form of juice powder and capsules. Nutrition plus makes these products available to children through school canteens.

Image courtesy of Nutrition Plus, 2020.

Another important project that Nutrition Plus is involved with is the 10 Million Meals Program. It is a global initiative run through the Juice Plus Foundation - Nutrition Plus runs the program throughout Australian and New Zealand. The program which commenced in 2016 has been an incredible success. Nutrition Plus achieved their goal of distributing 10,000 meals to disadvantaged children, youth and homeless within the first 8 months. They are now running 9 different projects and have provided over 25,000 meals.

One of the Nutrition Plus’s most recent programs started in 2020 in partnership with Wakagetti Indigenous Corporation. Together they now offer targeted cultural education to corporations, businesses, schools and other organisations. All profits from the training are funnelled back into Nutrition Plus’s other projects and assist Wakagetti with their Indigenous youth mentoring programs. Nutrition Plus also has an upcoming event, their annual Row 4 Children's Health. The event will be taking place on March 6, 2021. Click here for more information and to find out how you can get involved.

You can find out more about Nutrition Plus and their amazing work here.