IQALUIT - What began as a discussion between teachers about how not all the students at Joamie School had ice skates they could wear to participate in the school's skating program has evolved to the creation of the Get Skates Project.

These students from Joamie School received skates from the Get Skates Project. About 500 pairs of skates were collected for students in Nunavut. From left, Grade 2 students Pootoogoo Naluiyuk, Grace Lambe and May Morgan skate at the Arctic Winter Games arena on Dec. 15. - Emily Ridlington/NNSL photo

More than 500 pairs of skates have been collected and now every one of Joamie's 200 students has a pair of skates of their own.

"The kids have a real desire to participate in the skating program rather than sitting on the sidelines watching their friends skate and now they can all skate," said Ron Wassink, an interim teacher at the school who moved to town in September.

Wassink and his partner Alexandra Garrett put out a call to their friends and contacts at various media and organizations in Ontario for skates. This was in addition to a Facebook campaign and a posting on his blog.

"It just snowballed from there," he said.

Staff at Joamie would have been happy with 20 to 30 pairs and Wassink said he was aiming to get 100 pairs.

The greatest need was for skates in sizes 11,12 and 1-3.

Garrett and Wassink both said the response was overwhelming. Garrett's sister works as a teacher with the Toronto District School Board and she put up posters at her school. Eddie Ing, a teacher at Howard Public School in Toronto, delivered three van loads full of skates to Garrett's sister's house along with hockey jerseys and pads.

The first shipment of 300 skates in 14 large boxes on two skids arrived in Iqaluit via Canadian North, who paid for the shipping, on Nov. 25.

When the skates arrived, Garrett said teachers at Joamie and others involved with the project met the skates and the airport and were quite excited.

"It was such a beautiful response to a simple question," she said.

Qulliq Energy paid to have the skates sharpened and there are roughly 200 pairs of skates left over from the first shipment.

A second shipment with 200 more pairs of skates will arrive in Iqaluit courtesy of First Air in January.

Wassink said he looked at a flyer from Ontario and a new pair of youth skates retails for $50 a pair so he estimates $15,000 worth of skates were brought up in the first shipment alone.

The pair said now connections will be made to outfit students at the other schools in Iqaluit and then they will reach out to other communities.

On the afternoon of Dec. 15, all the students at Joamie skated together for the first time at the Arctic Winter Games arena.

"These are my first pair of skates and they fit," said Napatchie Nowdlak in Grade 2.

She said she loves to skate because it is fun and you get to be with your friends.

Also on the ice for the very first time was Grade 1 student Thomas Nakasuk-Aoudla.

He said the ice was very slippery and in between trying to stand up on his own he used a chair for support and to help him stay balanced.

"I want to play hockey," he said adding his favourite hockey team is the Chicago Blackhawks and that his favourite player is Sidney Crosby.

"The kids keep asking me if they have to bring the skates back," Wassink said.

Joamie School's plan is to arrange an equipment exchange next year so when students outgrow their skates they can swap them for another pair.

What's needed now is helmets as the children cannot skate without one and many kids have to share.

When asked why she thought they received an outpouring of support for the project, Garrett said she thought one of the reasons might be because everyone responded to the fact skating is such a Canadian sport and wanted to make sure all kids had a chance to participate.

"We have a lot of happy kids now," said Wassink.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.