Iqaluit (Dec 13/04) - It was freezing cold with blowing snow blanketing the roadways, but Joe Enook, president of the Uqsuq Corporation, called the weather "perfect" for the cheque donation his company made to the Oqota Emergency Shelter in Iqaluit.

Looking out the window of the shelter Nov. 29, Enook remarked how a day like this really drives home why Iqaluit needs a homeless shelter.

The 14-bed Oqota shelter is constantly struggling to pay its bills and stay open, so the $10,000 donation from the Uqsuq Corporation helps, and will hopefully encourage other organizations to make similar donations, said Bill Riddell, chair of the Illitiit Society, which runs the shelter. The Uqsuq Corp., based in Iqaluit, is the main distributer of gasoline and home heating, aviation and jet fuel through Nunavut Petroleum Corp.

Riddell said the $10,000 Uqsuq donated has already been spent on various needs of Oqota.

The Oqota shelter and the youth cottage cost the Illitiit Society around $600,000 a year to run.

Since Illitiit was formed in 1996, securing funding to keep both shelters open has been an on-going battle, Riddell said.

Enook said the concept of a shelter is important to Inuit and something he is proud his company supports.

"Iqaluit has been good to us," said Enook. "We try and give back to the community."

Inuit culture has always been close-knit with camps of people who were not just blood family but made up of other families who helped each other, Enook said. "If we can take people off the street and give them shelter for the night, we have done our part," Enook said.