New Brunswick charity sends sea can of food to Igloolik

A charity in New Brunswick sent enough food to fill a sealift container — about $50,000 worth — to Igloolik late last month.

A Tapestry of Kindness is run by husband and wife Rick Maher and Linda Maher and funded by their friend Charlie Cahill, all of whom are originally from St. John’s, N.L., and have known each other since university. They sent the bounty to St. Stephen Church Rev. Zbigniew Halemba.

Halemba said he recruited 20 volunteers, including students and teachers, to move the food from the container to the church and from there had given out approximately 200 food hampers as of Aug. 30 the approximately 2,000 people who live in Igloolik.

Halemba, who moved to Canada from Poland in 2021 and four months ago left Naujaat for Igloolik, said distributing such a large donation helped acquaint him with Igloolik residents.

“Many of them didn’t know me and they were also coming to me and telling me this is a first time that we have something like this,” he said.

“I was really happy to hear that I can do something good…. It takes time that people can trust you, that people can come to you.”

Rick Maher and Linda Maher began working on what would eventually become A Tapestry of Kindness in January 2025. The charity is registered in Saint John, N.B., where the Mahers now live.

The food was purchased in Quebec, Rich Maher said, near where the sealift cargo ships depart for Nunavut communities. He bought several items in bulk, including peanut butter, macaroni pasta, tomato sauce, tea, sugar, cereal, and canned corn and peas.

He said he’s hoping to donate to two Nunavut communities a year, and is working to secure grant funding from Nutrition North Canada to cover part of the transportation costs. The charity has also made a donation of food to Gjoa Haven in September 2025.

“The transportation cost of each sea can is approximately $12,000,” Maher said.

“We have an active grant application with Nutrition North which will help cover some transportation costs associated with this year’s shipments. Those funds are forthcoming and will contribute to next year’s efforts.”

Halemba said that, besides feeding the community, he sees another meaningful outcome from the donation.

“I believe that food may be some kind of thing that connects us, because we know that in the past many times Anglicans and Catholics were fighting, and sometimes you can even still feel it in some communities,” Halemba said.

“I believe that those things, like giving away food, sharing, or praying together, that we like somehow repair something that was a little bit broken in the past.”