By Brennan Phillips
Special to the Western News
The Canadian Mental Health Association has received a brand new stove, courtesy of the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen.
“We were working with a fifty year old stove that had broken knobs,” said Leah Schulting, Executive Director of the South Okanagan Similkameen branch of the CMHA. “Staff and clients are so happy to have a brand new, fully operational, six burner stove.”
Good nutrition is essential for good mental health, according to Schulting, making it an important factor in mental illness management and recovery. The stove has been installed at the CMHA - SOS branch’s Unity House, where they encourage their clients to eat a balanced diet.
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Unity House serves nutritious meals every day to people living with a mental illness. The program offers lunch daily and dinners twice a week. Last year staff and volunteers served over 10,000 meals to mental health clients, who are members of Unity House.
This stove will allow CMHA to continue with the meals program.