 | E-mail this story |  | Write letter to editor |  | Order a classified ad |
| E-mail this story | | Write letter to editor | | Order a classified ad |
 Robert Tookoome, left, and Mark Thompson, show off some of the foodcollected during the Niqinik Nuatsivik Nunavut Food Bank's annualstuff-a-bus event held outside Iqaluit's Northmart and Arctic Ventures onDec. 4. Despite the cold weather, the bus was close to full by 1 p.m. - Brent Reaney/NNSL photo |
"I cried, I was so happy," said Jen Hayward, secretary for the foodbank. "It's such a relief. Now we can pay for our sea lift next year."
Demand at the Iqaluit food bank has increased by 50 per cent sincethe summer.To help meet the increased requests, the group held its Stuff-a-Busevent Dec. 4 outside of Arctic Ventures.
"We did better than last year interms of food, the bus was overflowing," Hayward said.
Cash donations were down from last year's Stuff-a-Bus event, witharound $1700 counted by Sunday. But the unexpected cash gift from First Air more than made up forit, Hayward said.This summer, the food bank was distributing about 50 bags of foodper week.
Recently, that number has risen to 75 bags a week. The increase is common this time of year, said Hayward.
"There are more people at home, and less people out on the land,"she said.
Calls from communities that have no foodbanks have been coming in,requesting food.
"Some are more organized than others," Hayward said. About 40 volunteers pack and distribute food on a weekly basis. The bank itself has no building. Currently, the food is packed at the Northwestel garage, stored at the RCMP hangar, and distributed at the InuitBroadcasting Corp. building every second Saturday. Emergency requests can be made by leaving a message at 979-4242.
