Iqaluit food bank helps more during the holidays

Niqinik Nuatsivik food bank volunteers fill bags of food for the food bank’s clients in Iqaluit. (FILE PHOTO)

(updated Dec.8)

‘Tis the season for joy and celebration.

But in many households across Nunavut, the holiday season is also a time of hunger.

The winter months are usually the busiest for Iqaluit’s Niqinik Nuatsivik food bank, and so longer line-ups during its Saturday distribution time come as no surprise to Jen Hayward, chair of the food bank’s board of directors.

Generally the number of users goes up between September and March every year, she said.

“It was the number of new faces that surprised us,” Hayward said following the food bank’s Dec. 3 distribution. “We had our usual clientele, but we saw some new faces too.”

On Dec. 3, the food bank distributed food to 513 individuals from 117 households.

That’s up slightly from its Sept. 24 distribution, where Niqinik Nuatsivik handed out food to 461 people from 96 households and its Oct. 8 distribution, which provided food for 507 people from 110 housholds.

Serving a growing clientele is a challenge for the registered charity, which relies entirely on fundraising and sponsorships with local and regional organizations.

Last summer, Hayward told Nunatsiaq News that “staying open” was Niqinik Nuatsivik’s top priority.

Fortunately, Christmastime also means generous donations, Hayward said, and that boost in support will help the food bank carry on through this busy season.

Niqinik Nuatsivik recently received more than $20,000 in donations from groups like the local Boiler Association, Nunastar and First Air.

“We certainly look healthy in terms of being able to do our sealift order for 2012,” Hayward said.

The food bank’s sealift order was more than $50,000 in 2011, although it’s still too soon to say if that stock will sustain the organization through 2012.

Niqinik Nuatsivik has drawn a solid base of volunteers, but more helping hands are always useful during the food bank’s busier months, Hayward said.

Niqinik Nuatsivik could use some extra help to do a special distribution on Dec. 31, when the food bank hands out a bonus bag of fresh foods between Christmas and New Years, she said.

Several food bank users have also asked to be put on the list for the Christmas hamper program, an annual program coordinated through Iqaluit’s Rotary Club.

Families included on the hamper list receive a “Christmas dinner in a box,” packed with a turkey, potatoes, fruits and other cooking supplies like flour and lard.

A number of volunteers and community organizations will gather Dec. 17 at Cadet Hall to pack the hampers and help distribute them to families in need.

“People are happy to get one,” Hayward said.

Niqinik Nuatsivik distributes food every second Saturday from noon to 1 p.m.