Local community health programme re-launches

Local community health programme re-launches with fresh, new approach

The Glen Innes Healthy Kai (GIHK) programme has been re-launched with the roll out of colourful, bright posters, a retailer and community newsletter and added support for participating Glen Innes town centre retailers and their customers. The re-launch is building upon recent successes and growth of the programme.

As a community led initiative, the GIHK programme has a working group that engages with participating programme retailers by supporting and encouraging them to offer healthy food options to their customers. The group is made up of local representatives, business people and health organisations that provide community and health services to Glen Innes. The focus is around promoting healthy, price competitive food options to consumers within the environment of town centre, as it is a popular meeting place for the visitors who like to buy food from the retail outlets.

“When the programme began four years ago, we recognised that we needed a unique approach that would work for the Glen Innes community as this is very much a community focused programme,” says GIHK chair Matt Appleyard.

“This has worked well and we’ve had a number of successes recently, including strengthening links with the Maori community by having our meetings at Ruapotaka Marae, as well as the employment of a Maori Community Co-ordinator, Richard Randell. This appointment has been supported by the Glen Innes Business Association, which shows how important GIHK is to the local business community.”

Matt adds that these positive changes highlight better local recognition of the programme.

“The GIHK re-launch is all about acknowledging our achievements, while continuing to look for ways to improve how we do things, such as meeting the purchasing needs of the community and maintaining a quality programme for retailers,” says Matt, adding that a 2010/2011 goal is to promote the retailers’ offerings to the broader community.

“We would like to promote our retailers to businesses that extend beyond the boundaries of the town centre and organisations. There are many newcomers to the area who do not realise the range of quality foods available through our GIHK partners, such as sushi, fruit salad, soups, salads, healthy sandwiches and wraps. We are also pleased to see that all of our retailers now have an A Food Safety rating.”

Looking ahead, the programme aims to work even more closely with community groups, schools and Ruopotaka Marae, while continuing to grow its number of partner retailers.

ENDS

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