EON FOUNDATION HELPS KIDS THRIVE

Anthony, Erika Wells and Bruce “Shorty” Cox in the garden at Yiyili remote community school.

Yiyili remote community in the Central Kimberley has a thriving vegetable garden attached to its school.

Gooniyan man Shorty Cox is one of two “Edible Garden Coordinators” at the school.

“The high school kids come out, we teach them as well as show them how to irrigate, plant seed, when to plant it, what season the vegetable’s going to grow and all that kind of stuff,” he said.

They were initially employed by a private charity called the EON Foundation, which is in its second decade of helping remote communities improve their nutrition by learning to grow fresh food.

EON CEO Caroline De Mori with Meekatharra kids.

Erika Wells is EON’s WA Operations Manager, also based at Yiyili.

“We’ve got lots of different sorts of communities working and thriving in the NT and we’re expanding there at the moment,” she said.

“And also down in WA. All of them are at different stages and I think the best thing about it is that they all have different strenghts. So being able to lean and support eachother through what we learn in different communties is really important to sustainability and success.”

Meekatharra kids with produce they have grown themselves.