The Lake Andes Food and Wellness Council has been a part of the Lake Andes community since 2015. The Food and Wellness Council was created as part of a South Dakota State University (SDSU) grant that chose three communities (DeSmet, Lower Brule and Lake Andes) to form Well Connected Communities.

Mary Jo Parker applied for the grant with the purpose in mind to provide better resources for the Lake Andes community. The mission statement of the organization is “to build and foster a local system which supports healthy, affordable food for the greater Lake Andes area”. Members (past and current) that were instrumental in the formation of the Food and Wellness Council were Jack Soulek, Mary Jo Parker, Samantha (Dvorak) DeVaney, Ann Schwader along with Andes Central high school students. To become a member all that is needed is to contact either Mary Jo Parker or Rebecca Beeson or message the Lake Andes Food & Wellness Council’s Facebook page. As a member of the council, one is expected to attend the monthly meeting, network with others, be willing to help the community and have an interest in nutrition and exercise.

The goals of the Food and Wellness Council are to promote a healthy nutritional diet and active lifestyle. The chairperson for the organization is Mary Jo Parker with Rebecca Beeson being her vice chair. Right now, the council has 15 members, eight of which are very active. Members of the council include high school students, business owners, school personnel, National Resources Conservation Service employees (NRCS), SDSU extension team members, and community members. They meet once a month either in person and or via zoom on the first Thursday of every month at 3:45 p.m. for a half an hour or less. The council is always looking for more members who are active in the Lake Andes community and who have a desire to make the community a healthier better place.

Some of the activities or projects that have been sponsored, created or participated in by the Food and Wellness Council are the Lake Andes Farmer’s Market, the Lake Andes Community Garden, new additions to the community center and floats in the Fish Days parade. This year the Food and Wellness Council took second place in the open category of the Fish Days parade and handed out bottles of water along the parade route. They also plan on having a float in the upcoming Wagner Labor Day parade.

Through grants, the council was able to improve the community center by purchasing an AED and new stove.

This summer the food and wellness council has been quite busy having a booth at the 605. Unity Jam, supporting the local food pantries, sponsoring the farmers market in Lake Andes, working in the community garden. Every week the council has a booth at the farmers market that sells fresh locally grown fresh garden veggies. The Lake Andes Farmers Market is held every Tuesday from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. at the Lake Andes Park shelter.

The Lake Andes Community Garden is located by the Andes Central bus barn. In exchange for some work weeding the garden, community members are able to come and pick some fresh vegetables. All that is asked is that whatever is taken is weighed and recorded, that way the council can keep track of how much the garden produces annually. Last year the community garden produced over 3,000 pounds of food. Kristen Maynard and Mary Jo Parker are co-chairs of the community garden project. Kristen does a lot of the early morning watering of the garden with Mary Jo doing a good portion of the weeding. They are always looking for more volunteers to get involved with tending to the garden.

Some of the beautiful produce that is currently being grown in the garden include melons, squash, cucumbers, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, green beans, peas, carrots, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, various varieties of tomatoes, sunflowers, celery, sweet corn, strawberries, raspberries, dill, sage and oregano. The garden also has milk weed and flowers to help the monarch butterflies and bees. Eventually, they would like to sell the fresh flowers at the farmers market.

Some of the goals for the organization for 2024 are to help spread the word about and promote Andes Central’s new food program. It is similar to other community’s backpack programs and is called Eagles Eat with Andes Central Jr/Sr High Counselor, Synnora Wilbur spearheading the initiative.

There are more projects that the council is interested in and currently in the process of working on. One item that Mary Jo shared was the Food to School program. It is a program that would involve the school purchasing meat directly from a local farmer to then be processed at a local registered meat locker, and the school purchasing milk from local dairies. The program also includes a fruit and vegetable component as well which is something that the community garden is geared toward. It is hoped that vegetables can be grown and provided to the Andes Central School District. Another project that is in the works is obtaining a grant to build a year-round greenhouse for the Andes Central School District in order for the school and students to grow and have their own locally sourced vegetables and fruits. Especially being a rural community, it is important that the food being fed to the children is local and does not contain high amounts of preservatives.

The Dakota Food RX program is another project in the works for the council. This program is unique in that patients who have chronic conditions can go to their doctor and the doctor will write them a “prescription” for fresh fruits and vegetables. The patient then can take this to local partnering farmers markets, food pantries, and partnering grocery stores for access to free fruits and vegetables. This is a program that is currently being done in Spearfish. Mary Jo said that the council is in the beginning stages of trying to implement this program in Lake Andes.

When asked what she would like to say or tell the Lake Andes community, Mary Jo Parker said she would like more people to be aware of what the council is doing and promoting. She would love to see more young people get involved and take an active interest not only with the Food and Wellness Council, but with the Lake Andes community as a whole. One of the important aspects of the council is to try to bring about awareness of where food is coming from, what people are eating and teaching both youth and adults how to grow their own food.