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INUVIK
Inuvik's new coffee house will wear many hats. It will be a safe and warm haven for those who have nowhere to go when the homeless shelter closes its doors every weekday afternoon. It will be a social environment for moms and tots, and a new facility for anyone who wants to take part in workshops, have a snack or play a board game.

Linda Wright is the co-ordinator of the new coffee house that will soon be offered at the Inuvik Interagency Committee. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

Linda Wright of the Inuvik Interagency Committee is co-ordinator for the new coffee house, which will be opening up in the near future thanks to Healthy Choices Framework funding from the GNWT. The funding criteria is built around pillars such as healthy eating, healthy families, mental wellness and physical activity.

The coffee house will be an open public space at the Inuvik Interagency Committee until the end of March, acting as a pilot project with the hopes of restarting next winter.

The facility will offer free services such as coffee and snacks, telephone and Internet, as well as books and magazines. Wright will be organizing free workshops throughout the upcoming weeks at the facility, which encourage healthy choices and healthy living such as standing up to addictions, anti-smoking and coping with change and transition.

Currently, the building is undergoing fire and kitchen inspections to make sure everything is up to code before opening it up to the public, said Wright.

"We want to put on interesting and educational workshops. I know a lot of people would be interested in a cooking class and that's something I really want to get started," she said. "We're just preparing the interagency to be accessed by all the community."

Mary Ann Ross, chair of the committee and chair of the homeless shelter board, said the idea of a coffee house has been around for awhile and now, finally, the space is available and the funding is in place.

"We wanted to have a time set up between the hours that the shelter shuts down between 1 and 4 p.m., especially in the cold months, so they can come here and have coffee and have a snack, sit and mingle with their friends, of course make new friends," said Ross. "It's not just one specific group, the shelter clients, it's for everybody."

Tammy Matthews, co-ordinator of Healthy Babies based out of Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre, said offering a new space for mothers and children six-years-old and under as well as pre-natal mothers would be a great social experience.

"It's presenting a place where we can go just to give the kids a different venue, some painting over there, some exercise with the babies," she said.

Matthews said the moms' group will venture to the coffee house on Tuesday afternoon throughout the month of March.

"They can probably meet other people down there, too, because it's going to be open to the public. It's going to be a nice idea to get the kids out and do something different.'

The Inuvik Interagency Committee received $48,200 in funding, including $11,700 going to the Lights On program. The committee partnered with the high school program offered on Saturday nights at Samuel Hearne Secondary School (SHSS). With the funds, the program will be able to hire two youth co-ordinators and a full-time supervisor as well as supplies for physical activities and healthy eating.

"We're really excited," said Heidi Bender, one of the co-ordinators of the program at SHSS. "We're having a student design a logo and we're going to make some hoodies and t-shirts to help promote the program."

Bender said she is looking to purchase some ping-pong tables, indoor soccer nets and more Wii fitness games.

"It's been really successful but we haven't bought a lot of new equipment."

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