First Step Early Learning Centre
Learning and Development in Brockville

First Steps got started soon after Susan Ritchie came face-to-face with the desperate human need in North Korea in the fall of 2000 when she traveled extensively there as the interpreter for a Canadian fact-finding delegation.After returning to Vancouver, Susan vowed to do something. Each machine can provide a cup of nutrient-rich soymilk for up to 2, 000 children daily. Developed by Ottawa-based Malnutrition Matters, they work like highly energy-efficient pressure cookers that process soybeans into nutrient-rich soymilk. Since 2003, First Steps has focused on sending in VitaCow and VitaGoat machines. With the help of church friends, she started First Steps, which became a registered charity in 2001.Initial fundraising resulted in a container of Pablum being sent to an orphanage and pediatric hospital in Kangdong county in late 2001. First Steps has 52 electrically-powered VitaCows and 36 fuel-powered VitaGoats in operation there (October 2013), daycares, 000 children in orphanages, serving a total of more than 100, and kindergartens.