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Yellowknife Community Foundation receives $100,000 donation
Former Yk mayor and NWT commissioner John Parker and wife Helen Parker give back to community

John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, November 30, 2016

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Yellowknife Community Foundation is $100,000 richer thanks to a donation from former Yellowknife mayor and former NWT commissioner John Parker and his wife Helen Parker.

NNSL photo/graphic

John and Helen Parker have made a $100,000 donation to the Yellowknife Community Foundation. The Parkers, who now live in B.C., said they wanted to give back to the community that gave so much to them. - photo courtesy of Yellowknife Community Foundation

The donation came in the form of common stock shares. The Parkers did not want to say exactly what they were shares in.

"We wanted to give back to the community that gave us so very much," Helen said from her home on Vancouver Island in a telephone interview with Yellowknifer on Nov. 23. "We have donated to the Yellowknife Community Foundation in the past and we know the good work they do for many people in the North."

John Parker was commissioner of the NWT from 1979 to 1989. He also served as mayor of Yellowknife from 1963 to 1967. During their years in the North, the Parkers were well known for their charitable work and their efforts to make the territory a better place for people to grow and prosper.

John was a geological engineer who arrived in Yellowknife in 1954 from Uranium City, Sask. He went to work for N W Byrne - a consulting engineer - whose business he bought in 1963.

John was elected to city council in 1958.

Helen Parker arrived in Yellowknife one year after her husband in 1955. She grew up in the Calgary area. Helen was a volunteer with the Yellowknife Children's Aid Society. According to the foundation's website, the Parkers were active community volunteers during the early days of the United Church and the Overture Concert organization.

Bronwyn Watters, president of the Yellowknife Community Foundation said the Parkers' generosity represents a continuation of their commitment to the foundation.

"The Parkers' donation will support charitable works in and around Yellowknife for many years to come," she said.

Charles Dent, foundation past-president, said this is not the largest single donation the organization has ever received but it is one of the largest.

"This is an amazing donation. We're truly honoured that the Parkers chose to remember their time in the North by helping Northerners this way," Dent said.

"I love the work the foundation does and this will certainly open up some doors for us to do even more work in the future."

Dent said he has known the Parkers for some 40 years now and he thinks people need to be aware how substantial the Parkers' contribution to the North has been. He said while he was commissioner, John Parker played a pivotal role in the establishment of responsible government - essentially elected government officials taking over from appointed officials.

Dent said the foundation's wide range of support appealed to the Parkers. He added that foundation money has been used for everything from homeless shelters, to equipment at the Yellowknife Ski Club to scholarships for deserving students. Dent said the foundation board will decide in the coming months how the Parkers' donation will be spent.

The Yellowknife Community Foundation was formed in 1993. Its stated mandate is to provide interested individuals and organizations with a means of supporting projects in the community for the enduring future.

The foundation is not singularly dedicated to any specific area of support. It embodies a simple concept - that people working together can make a difference.

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