John Curran
Northern News Services

Fort Good Hope (July 04/05) - The youth committee here has come up with a newsworthy way of raising money for a trip - selling copies of News/North.

Jordan Tobac, back left, Sonny Ellton, Nolan Kakfwi and Lyndon Kakfwi, front, are all selling copies of News/North in Fort Good Hope to help the youth committee pay for a trip to Inuvik and the Yukon.

Northern News Services donates 50 papers a week to the group and a team of five boys deliver them to people on a subscriber list.

"People call us and give us their name and we take them the paper at work," said youth worker Verna Pierrot.

"This way they don't have to go to the store on their break or at lunch - the paper comes to them."

Louisa Lafferty, who works at the band office, is one of their customers.

"It's great. The whole community appreciates what they're doing and is behind them," she said.

And the kids are glad to do it. The trip they're trying to pay for starts with them canoeing to Inuvik. From there they plan to get on a bus and journey to the Yukon.

"We wanted them to see different sights and experience different cultures," said Pierrot.

The initial plan was for the money from the sale of each paper to be split.

The youngsters would keep 50 cents and the committee the other 50 cents, but the boys decided that wasn't good enough.

"We decided to give all of the money to the youth committee so we can pay for the trip faster," said Michel Grandjambe, one of the 15-year-old paper carriers. "I've never been to the Yukon before and I'm looking forward to going."

Northern News Services circulation manager Debra Davis said the Fort Good Hope project can be done anywhere.

"Any group in the North that's looking to raise money can give us a call," she said. "We're happy to help out by donating the papers and it gets the kids out and involved in their community."