Chesterfield Inlet (Nov 22/06) - Gone, but not forgotten applied to more than Remembrance Day services in the Kivalliq earlier this month.

Dan and Belinda Collado spent nine years in Rankin Inlet, where Dan was pastor at the Glad Tidings Church, before moving to Napanee, Ont., in 2004.

While Dan is now the associate pastor at Evangel Temple, Belinda is on the executive of the Women's Ministries group.

The women in the group do a lot of knitting and send items all over the world.

Belinda contacted Victor Sammurtok school principal Bruce Penney in Chesterfield Inlet this past month to see if the women's group could help out the school in some way.

The group takes on a special project each year and, due to the Collado's ties to the North, its members wanted to send an early Christmas gift of gloves, hats, mitts and scarves to every student at the school.

Penney immediately accepted the offer and let Belinda know the number of kids attending the school.

"I broke it down so she'd know the number of kids in each grade level, which gave her the age groups, and the number of boys and girls we have in each level," says Penney.

"When we received the shipment, all the items were broken up by grade level and then by boys and girls.

"The work that went into that alone was impressive.

"These ladies put a lot of time, effort and money into this contribution and it's greatly appreciated by our little community."

When Penney and his staff handed out the gifts, they took the time to explain to the kids where it all came from.

Then they went on local radio to inform the parents that the gifts came from the Ontario church group.

In total, the school received about 120 combinations of winter goods.

Penney says the gifts were warmly received by the kids and the community alike.

"It sure was a great feeling to have someone think of us like that.

"When the older students in Grade 11 and 12 first got the items, they didn't try them on right away because they felt a little too cool for such things.

"But, according to my staff, a little while later they were all wearing their hats.

"We're proud of them for realizing the effort that went into the gifts and showing their appreciation for that effort by wearing the items."