Iqaluit Rotary club needs volunteer drivers to spread Christmas cheer

The Iqaluit Rotary Club needs volunteer drivers to distribute Christmas hampers to families around the city this weekend.

Club secretary Hillary Casey said that at Christmas time each year, Rotary members try to help families in need by filling hampers with all the ingredients and supplies needed to make a turkey dinner.

“That’s just to make sure that families that don’t have a special meal at Christmastime have all the supplies that they need to feed their family,” she said.

What the club needs now, Casey said, is volunteer drivers who can deliver the hampers on Saturday. Anyone interested can show up at the hall at 9:30 a.m. and organizers will provide a list of addresses to deliver the hampers to.

She said Rotary members wanted to make sure everyone who could use a hand was reached. So, they contacted local groups, such as Nunavut Arctic College where students who are from outside of Iqaluit often stay over the holidays, to make sure that they too would have a special meal for Christmas.

“We also get an elders list from Iqaluit Tukisigiarvik Centre, we also deliver hampers to clients at the Uquutaq Society Shelter, some to the transitional units, the low-income units,” Casey said.

“But for the most part, our greatest number of recipients come from [people receiving] income support. So we put forms at the income support office in Iqaluit for people to apply.

“We think this is the best way to identify people who are in need that might want to receive a hamper.”

This year, Rotary set a fundraising goal at $45,000 because this is the 45^th year for the hamper program in Iqaluit.

Rotary received a number of substantial donations from the community, she said.

“One of our major sponsors is the Piviniit Thrift Store, who donated $10,000 to the hampers again this year,” Casey said.

Last year, the club had so many volunteer drivers that they were lined up outside the door at the Cadet Hall.

“I think that really speaks to Iqaluit’s sense of community and caring for each other,” she said. “This is Inuuqatigiit, where people are making sure that people are taken care of.

“I think that really resonates with a lot of people over the holidays, that we get so many volunteers.”

She’s hopeful people will come out again this year and said Rotary looks forward to continuing the tradition.

According to the Rotary Club of Iqaluit, its hamper program dates back to 1978 when now-retired Anglican pastor, Rev. Mike Gardner and his late wife Margaret, began delivering cooked turkeys to needy families.

Soon after, the late Fred and Oolahnee Coman continued and expanded the program by purchasing turkeys and vegetables, packing them in Coman’s warehouse and delivering them to elders and others in need.

Following Fred Coman’s death, the Iqaluit Rotary Club took over with the effort championed by lifetime honorary Rotary member, the late Bob Hanson.

“We carry on this tradition in their honour” said Casey of those who kept the program running.