Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services
Pangnirtung (May 14/01) - Picture this: Smooth-talking MuchMusic VJ George Stroumboulopoulos swinging a golf club on the sea ice.
In another Nunavut community, a person struggles to read a medicine bottle.
What's the connection? Stroumboulopoulos' presence, and that of other Canadian celebrities, helped PGI (Peter Gzowski Invitational) Golf Tournament organizers raise several thousand dollars for the Nunavut Literacy Council.
The council provides programs for Nunavummiut with reading and writing difficulties.
The May 3 nine-hole tournament relied on corporate sponsorships. In-kind donations of air fares and hotel rooms meant celebrities arrived at no expense to the NLC. Organizers were still tabulating donation totals at press time.
Overall, the event was a smashing success.
"People in (Pangnirtung) rallied around us and treated us like family," said a tanned Stroumboulopoulos before boarding a plane home. He and his entourage extended their visit by a couple of days to snowmobile, sample country food and mingle with the community.
Fellow Canadian celebrities on the ice were teen scream idol Scott Moffatt, of the all-boy band "The Moffatts," Jonovision host Jonathan Torrens, and Kim D'Eon, host of CBC's Street Cents.
Named after legendary CBC broadcaster Peter Gzowski, the PGI tournament made its Northern debut in 1989.
The tournament alternates between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories each year.
Kim Crockatt, NLC executive director, commended Pangnirtung volunteers who organized the tournament and fishing derby.
"Peter (Gzowski) was extremely disappointed he couldn't make it, but he's coming this summer to launch our writer in residence," Crockatt said.
Strong literacy skills mean people help their children with their homework, take proper medication, get good jobs and become community leaders.
"Golf is the thing people focus on, but the real hook, what we're promoting, is the money we can raise for literacy in Nunavut," Crockatt said.
