Healthy Families Ōtautahi (HFŌ) is getting their hands dirty to foster community spirit and promote well-being, building blocks (literally) for a healthier future.

On Friday, team members collaborated with the Food Resilience Network (FRN) to build bricks for Edible Canterbury’s Ōtākaro Orchard project.

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Ōtākaro Orchard, located on Christchurch’s Cambridge Tce, is a project by Edible Canterbury that’s been years in the making. It aims to be a vital cornerstone for Canterbury’s flourishing local food movement and a hub for intergenerational lessons about kai.

Healthy Families Ōtautahi’s collaboration with the FRN is part of HFŌ’s ‘Collective Impact for Kai’ Kaupapa. By enabling communities to reimagine local systems that are sustainable and regenerative, their strategic intent is for everyone in Christchurch to have access to good food - thereby linking to the six conditions of systems change.

FRN chairperson Hayley Guglietta says the bricks made by hand on Friday will be used for the orchard building’s internal walls.

“We were 200 bricks short, so… your team’s helped us make a dent in that 200.”

Guglietta says the FRN’s Kaupapa and the orchard are about food security.

“This hub is going to be a hub for people to help us with the systems change around that, and also provide an educational hub for people to use around food-related issues and topics - and promoting our local food producers.”

For more information about Ōtākaro Orchard, follow its Facebook page.

Article added: Monday 29 July 2024