The Great Falls Public Library has introduced the Charlie Cart Program, a mobile kitchen designed to provide nutrition education to the community.
"We get to join the ranks with some of the other folks in Montana, but we're only the fourth location in Montana to even have a Charlie Cart. So we're really excited about this project and about what it holds, for the future of Great Falls when it comes to nutrition education," said Sarah Cawley, GFPL Community Engagement Coordinator.
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"The Charlie Cart Project is a nonprofit organization, and their main goal is nutrition education for all. A lot of what they focus on is nutrition for children and making sure that kids grow up knowing what are the good things that they can be eating," Cawley said.
"The Charlie Cart itself is a fully stocked mobile kitchen. Although it wheels around quite nicely, it will be living here at the library. This fully functioning kitchen comes with everything from pots and pans to mixing bowls, to an entire Swiss knife set. So it comes with everything that you might possibly need," Cawley said.
The Great Falls Public Library Foundation spearheaded the funding effort for this innovative project, according to Executive Director Brianne Laurin.
"We are just really always proud as the foundation of the community support that allows us to fund projects like this. This is really innovative. So, and for the foundation to be able to kind of be on the leading edge of that, with the library programing that can come from it, it's just a really cool thing," Laurin said.
"The mission of the library is to bring cultural experiences, even. And so we can take someone who traveled to Vietnam and then create, maybe have a night where we make banh mi inside. So, it's just a really neat way to connect the community with the world beyond," Laurin said.
"Our goal with the Charlie Cart is to partner with community groups, mainly nonprofits, in order to bring more nutrition education to Great Falls in a place at the library, because the library is a cornerstone of the community," Cawley said.
The library is at 301 Second Avenue North in Great Falls.
