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 The Harvest Society -- composed of, from left, Adamie Shimout, Oloosie Manning, Malaiya Oshoweetuk, Udluriaq Samayualie, Uluusi Qavavau, Ningiukulu Teevee and Simigak Suvega -- organized a feast for elders on Dec. 16. - photo courtesy of Ningiukulu Teevee |
About 50 elders attended the special Christmas dinner at the community hall. Country food, as well as turkey and other traditional Christmas foods, was served by about 10 young volunteers.
"Hunger is in almost all communities. There are not enough jobs, and you have young families with no income," said Harvest Society co-ordinator Simigak Suvega during a phone interview last week.
Suvega, who grew up in Cape Dorset, said hunger was an issue there even under the NWT government.
The big difference Suvega sees today is that more young people are having babies, but there are not enough jobs to go around to bring money into the home.
This means an increasing number of elders are caring for small children, and that is putting more pressure on the elders.
The Harvest Society, which got up and running about three months ago, was created to streamline funding for monthly feasts and weekly food supplies for the needy.
The group holds monthly raffles to raise money, and they also receive regular food donations and discounts from the Northern and Co-op stores.
The society needs $12,000 a year for food, Suvega said.
Suvega doesn't think hunger will ever be completely erased from his community, but he wishes there was more awareness about the severity of the problem.
Cape Dorset has a reverse image problem in that many people assume the community is well off because of the famous artists and the community's reputation as the Inuit arts capital, he said.
"In the North, it's hard," said Suvega. "There's not that many who can sell their art, even the well-known artists cannot sell their carvings."
"The people who buy carvings stop buying. We have a lot of young people who carve, but they cannot sell."
Currently, the Harvest Society's food bank is stocking up for Christmas.
Donations can be made to the social services building where the food bank is open every Tuesday.
