29 June 2011

The Thumbs Up! team representing the Jimmy Little Foundation will celebrate NAIDOC Week in Wadeye, NT, with a community cook up and Thumbs up! workshop at the local creche.

Indigenous hip hop artist and Thumbs Up! program manager Ebony "Ebsta" Williams together with MC and radio announcer Mark "Munkimuk" Ross will spread Uncle Jimmy‟s message about how eating good tucker leads to a long life.

"This is our second visit to Wadeye and we are really excited to be coming back," Miss Williams said.

"Last time, the children in the primary school wrote a cool song called Like Uncle Jimmy Says and next week we will shoot a video clip for that song.

"The song is an anthem to healthy eating with the lyrics promoting how lots of water, fruit and vegetables „keeps my body clean inside‟, it‟s really catchy and the kids are still singing it five months on."

The Murrinhpatha Nimmipa Store has had the Thumbs Up! signage in store since the last visit, encouraging people to buy more fruit and vegetables as well as drink more water.

The women‟s association, the Ngenpan Patha Women‟s Centre, runs the local takeaway and is committed to providing healthy meal options for people in the community.

They are working with the Thumbs Up! team on the cook up on Friday that will feature beef stew and chicken casserole, two of Uncle Jimmy‟s healthy Recipes of the Month that now feature in more than 50 local stores across the NT.

The Jimmy Little Foundation is a non-profit organization working towards creating a healthier future for Indigenous Australians. Thumbs Up! is an initiative of the Jimmy Little Foundation.

The community day on Friday will be a celebration of NAIDOC Week as well as an open day for the crèche which has up to 20 children under its care daily.

The Thumbs Up! program has visited more than 20 communities around the Northern Territory and will launch the new Thumbs Up! school curriculum in time for the start of Term 3. This will provide integral resources to teachers online to assist in the overall health and wellbeing of students throughout the Northern Territory.