Cambridge Bay giveaway is no small potatoes

The Hamlet of Cambridge Bay’s health living department has been busy distributing 1,500 pounds (681 kilograms) of potatoes to residents and organizations in the community since Wednesday.

Fred Muise, programs manager for the wellness centre in Cambridge Bay, said in an email that the potatoes were going fast and that a majority were gone by Thursday evening.

“We received over 1,500 pounds of potatoes, and the next morning, about half of them were gone. And when I checked later that night, about 75 per cent of them were gone,” Muise said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

The potatoes came from Miner Farms in Saskatchewan and were shipped north by a Grand Prairie, Alta. non-profit called the Polaris Pantry Project, run by Kristi and Martin Fujita. They started the non-profit after six years of shopping and shipping to northern communities with their company GP2U.

“Polaris Pantry is only in its second year of operation,” Kristi Fujita said in an interview. “It’s a certified non-profit.…  We were kind of doing this off the side of our desks… but then we thought we should do this properly. If we registered as a non-profit, we could get more donations for people.”

Fujita said they received about 16,000 pounds of potatoes, and have sent them to the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and multiple communities in Nunavut, including Grise Fiord and Arctic Bay. Fujita says the federal government’s Nutrition North food subsidy program covered the cost of shipping.

“There’s no cost,” Fujita said. “All that Fred’s team had to do was go pick it up.”

What Muise and his team picked up was a pallet carrying a large bag with the potatoes.

Retailers in Cambridge Bay could not be reached for pricing of potatoes in the community but in Iqaluit, where prices tend to be lower, a store was selling equivalent potatoes for more than $22 for a 10-pound bag.

Muise said that along with Cambridge Bay residents getting potatoes, he notified both the men’s and women’s shelters that the vegetables were available for free. He confirmed the elders’ facility had picked potatoes up for its kitchen. Muise said he had not encountered any problems with the distribution of the potatoes, despite one commenter on the Facebook post that announced the potato availability saying he saw a possible health violation.

“I didn’t see any issues at all with distribution,” Muise said. “I noticed family members helping elders and those who didn’t drive, I also saw friends reaching out to their friends saying, let’s go get some potatoes, and they did.”

The potatoes were available for pickup behind Cambridge Bay’s old wellness centre, and if there are still spuds there Muise says residents should bring their own bag and bring some home.

“I love how everyone came together as a community to support each other,” Muise said. “From the farmers, the Polaris Pantry Project, Buffalo Airways, the Department of Healthy Living, and especially our community for coming together and supporting each other in order to help fight food insecurity.”