Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Pond Inlet ( Jun 05/00) - Doreen Seltzer sits at the breakfast table and reads her morning paper. She spots an ad for a lecture she'd like to attend with her son Mark and his wife Marilyn.

The instant she reaches for the phone to invite the couple, the all-too familiar sense of loss washes over her once again.

There is no more Mark and Marilyn.

The couple died on July 17, 1998 while kayaking near Pond Inlet -- something Doreen manages to forget about for seconds at a time two years later.

Despair emanates from her voice when she speaks of her loss.

"There isn't a day that goes by when I don't think I'll tell Mark and Marilyn this or we'll do that together," Doreen said, from her home in Toronto.

Gareth, her surviving son and Mark's only sibling, echoes her words and adds that the trip they've scheduled to Pond Inlet this summer will be a tough one.

Planned to give the pair a chance to place a plaque on the inukshuk overlooking the spot where Mark and Marilyn drowned, the journey will also give Doreen and Gareth the chance to say thank you to members of the north Baffin community for their tremendous kindness and help during the search.

They will also say goodbye to their loved ones.

"It's going to be terribly difficult for us emotionally," said Gareth, his voice husky with grief. "But anything we do is difficult emotionally in connection to this," he said.

"We'll just face it when we do it."

They've refused, however, to let their misfortune guide their lives. Just weeks after burying their family members, Gareth and Doreen began work on developing the Seltzer-Chan Pond Inlet Foundation in memory of Mark and Marilyn.

Officially gaining charity status last November, the foundation has since awarded two grants to Pond Inlet residents. And this year, in deeper recognition of Mark and Marilyn's beliefs, the foundation members made crucial changes to the grant process.

As well as significantly increasing the number of dollars in their coffers, foundation members made the application and selection process more accessible to the people it serves.

"It's important that the foundation is driven by the community. That's an easy thing to say, but it can be difficult to deliver," said Gareth.

But deliver they did. The application forms are now available in Inuktitut and a Pond Inlet-based selection committee -- familiar with what's important and necessary to the residents of Pond Inlet -- was formed to review and make recommendations twice a year on the most suitable applicants.

"That was a very exciting moment for us because it meant it was no longer driven by the south, but by the local community," said Gareth.

The committee was expected to get down to work last week after the deadline for the spring grant passed on May 29. Helen Ferrigan, a member of the local committee who received half a dozen applications this time around, said the changes had made a great deal of difference.

"So often when you submit a proposal to a southern organization, you know they have no understanding of the living or working conditions in the North," said Ferrigan.

"You run the risk that it won't be appreciated. By having a local committee evaluate things in the context of the community and then make recommendations, it's better," she said.

The recipient of the spring allotment will be notified by the end of June. The selected project will once again reflect the foundation's values of promoting and preserving Inuit tradition and culture while striving to end poverty and create educational opportunities.