BAKER LAKE - The student body at Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School played a large role in the success of Haiti relief fundraisers in Baker Lake this past month.

Kent dePeuter drops the puck between Tristan Tapatai and Kelvin Niego, right, during the Hockey for Haiti event in Baker Lake this past month. - photo courtesy of Jennith Peart

The Baker efforts raised a total of $7,511.81 for Haiti, with $1,214 coming from a flea market organized by Laurel Kreuger and another $4,000 being donated by the Anglican Youth Group.

The Amitnaaq students were front and centre in organizing and taking part in a special Hockey for Haiti event during the fundraising drive.

Student council president Kent dePeuter said it's important for students to have global awareness.

He said it's vital for youth to step up and do what they can to help people in countries less fortunate than Canada.

"It's a good thing for students to be involved with projects like this," said dePeuter.

"We had a lot of people come out to the event, and it was good to see so many students both playing and in the crowd watching.

"We made a lot more money for Haiti than we thought we would. We went into all this aiming to make $1,000 and we ended up with about $7,000."

DePeuter said there was a lot of enthusiasm among the students while organizing the event.

He said some student council members couldn't play in the game due to previous commitments, so a number of Grade 11 and Grade 12 students stepped up to take their place.

"It wasn't just student council that made this event so successful.

"We had a pretty good portion of the whole student body take part.

"We're also running a project for World Vision to help less-fortunate countries, and that's a good program for us to keep going for as long as we can. We've had other programs like this at the school, but I've never noticed this level of commitment before."

Amiq Nateela is the representative for the Grade 8G class. Nateela said he really enjoyed being a part of the fundraising project.

"It was a chance to both have fun at the local arena and also do something good to help the people of Haiti," said Nateela.

"The game was a real community event and I learned more about what's happening in Haiti by being involved.

"It's good to do things to help people who really need it, even when they live so far away from us."