DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
For most people, Christmas is still a long way off but Fort Providence's Paschalina Nadli is already embarking on a mission to make the holiday season a little cheerier for 12 young people in Sachs Harbour.

Paschalina Nadli is planning to send gift bags to Sachs Harbour for the Christmas season in an effort to bring holiday joy to children living in a remote community. - April Hudson/NNSL photo

As former mayor of Fort Providence and former executive director of the Zhati Koe Friendship Centre, Nadli said the thought of sending gifts further North has been on her mind for some time.

"It's something I've been thinking about for a while, and this year I decided to do something about it," she said. "I'm just at a point in my life where I want to pay forward."

Nadli chose Sachs Harbour because it is the smallest Northern community in the NWT.

"We decided to start with the smallest place in the NWT and then maybe we'll move on to Nunavut," she said.

After getting in touch with Sachs Harbour's hamlet office, Nadli said she will be sending the presents she collects to the hamlet office, which will then pass them along to the district educational authority.

Sachs Harbour currently has 14 children from kindergarten to Grade 9 as well as 10 children who are not currently in school.

Nadli's goal is to pull together six gift bags for girls and six for boys, with three each for young children and teenagers.

She also plans to send along items leftover from a recent yard sale.

"We're going to get there. I can do this - I'm determined," she said.

So far, Nadli's family is helping to bring in items for gifts and their efforts have garnered some interest and help from residents in Hay River and Fort Providence, but she hopes more community members will join in the effort.

Her own desire to help families in the North grew after her family started participating in Operation Christmas Child, a program that sends Christmas shoe boxes to children in foreign countries.

"Nobody ever thinks about the North and the high cost of living up in the North. How many of these little kids don't get things?" Nadli said.

"It costs too much ... I thought to myself, why can't we do something about that?"

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