Fighting the outbreak from afar
Doctors Without Borders gets help to combat Ebola in Africa at fundraiser
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, October 30, 2014
INUVIK
Doctors Without Borders got itself almost $20,000 thanks, in part, to a fundraising dinner.
Simon Jozzy digs into a hearty meal during a fundraiser for the Doctors Without Borders organization Oct. 25. Money raised is to help fight the spread of Ebola in Africa.
Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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More than 150 people turned out the event held at the McInnes Branch #220 of the Royal Canadian Legion Oct. 25.
Adama Stephens, the coordinator of the event, said during an interview she was more than pleased with the turnout and the $8,158 raised during the dinner and silent auction. The Union of Northern Workers donated a further $9,000 for a total of $17,370.25.
Stephens has close ties to Africa, as do a surprisingly large number of people in Inuvik, which has quite a cosmopolitan population despite its sub-Arctic location.
Stephens is originally from Sierra Leone, she said, which is one of the nations hardest hit by the Ebola crisis.
"That's my home country, and it's one that's been most affected by the Ebola outbreak," Stephens said. "Guinea's been affected as well, and that's where my grandparents came from, so it's a two-fold effect on me."
Doctors Without Borders is one of the main health organizations that's been battling the outbreak from the start, Stephens said, and it was in need of "more logistics."
"They've been on the front lines of this outbreak, and they've been appealing for financial support. So we're appealing to the public for support, and I knew I could find a lot of volunteers locally, so I talked to some of my friends, and we talked to the (legion) ladies auxiliary and they offered to provide a meal while we provided an African dish."
In all, Stephens had between 15 and 20 people offer to volunteer, and the Inuvik business community chipped in with items for a silent auction.
She estimated that approximately 170 people attended the dinner.
"The sales of the tickets were very slow (to start with) up until last Thursday, Oct. 23," Stephens said. "Then today, boom, people started buying them. The numbers increased suddenly today."
That generosity was most welcome, Stephens said.
Organizers also seized the chance to provide a little education on the Ebola outbreak by providing a questionnaire for people to answer for a chance to win a door prize.
Most people in attendance, such as Brian Terry, said they were concerned about the outbreak and following the news closely, despite the distance separating Inuvik from the virus hotspots.
