Nunavut soup kitchen to double output thanks to local generosity

The Iqaluit soup kitchen, which runs a social enterprise called the Inclusion Café, will soon be hooked up to piped water service for free, thanks to local construction firms and the City of Iqaluit. More water means more soup for Iqaluit’s poorest residents. (FILE PHOTO)

Daily food available for Iqaluit’s hungry and poor will soon double, thanks to a community effort by local construction companies and the City of Iqaluit to connect the Inclusion Café to the city’s piped water system—free of charge.

Several Iqaluit companies donated time and supplies to complete the hookup to the soup kitchen over the past few weeks, Iqaluit deputy mayor Romeyn Stevenson announced in city council, Sept. 13.

“As a group effort and possibly a model for other actions that need to take place in our city, I’d like to thank those companies for participating in helping in what is obviously an important and good cause,” Stevenson said.

Inclusion Café assistant coordinator Edith Sweetwater says the additional water will help increase the food centre’s capacity, which currently prepares about 120 servings per day for Iqaluit’s most needy residents.

“We’re hoping to at least double it in six months. We’ll do that carefully and from there, we’re hoping to triple it in the next 18 months,” she told Nunatsiaq News Sept. 14.

“Now we don’t even have to think about [water] as an issue. If we didn’t have this happen, we’d have to start negotiations with the city to start getting water delivery more often.”

Sweetwater said she’s been forced to call for additional trucked water three times in the past 10 months, but credits the city for its speedy service.

An emergency call-out for additional trucked water in Iqaluit currently costs about $250 per trip.

While the centre was on trucked water, Sweetwater says she stockpiled water in the evening to make sure the kitchen had enough to make soup in the morning.

“Before I left in the evening I’d fill up enough pots so that the next day, if I ever ran out, I’d have enough to complete the soup even if I didn’t have enough to wash the dishes until the afternoon,” she said.

“We deal with a lot of issues here and [water is] one less thing we don’t have to worry about now. It makes a big difference here when we’re juggling so many different issues.”

Kudlik Construction and Narwhal Plumbing and Heating completed interior and exterior pipe installations at the food centre, using materials donated by Nunavut Excavating.

The City of Iqaluit and Baffin Building Systems completed the digging and back-fill excavations connecting the building to the water main.

Sweetwater said the soup kitchen had tried for years to connect to piped water but couldn’t afford the installation.

“It was tremendously expensive. We felt sad that it hadn’t been included in the first building,” she said.

“A heartfelt thanks from all of us who work here and volunteer here. I’m thrilled to see such beautiful response from the community that we’re part of.”