Donations provide food, wifi to people in need during Covid-19

A $150,000 fundraising campaign in the NWT has helped to fund programs ensuring people don’t go hungry or lonely through the Covid-19 pandemic.

United Way NWT and the Yellowknife Community Foundation ran a joint campaign entitled Together We Are Strong. The foundation matched donations to United Way NWT up to $75,000 to reach the overall figure.

The money will go to support 22 projects in 17 of the territory’s communities.

In a news release on Wednesday, United Way NWT said projects funded through the campaign included “wifi expansion to reduce isolation, feeding vulnerable students, a bagged lunch program for people in need, the provision of cleaning supplies, and a competition that promotes traditional skills, culture, and physical activity to promote connections in the community.”

The list of organizations receiving funding includes:

• Avens
• Camp Connections
• Charter Community of Tsiigehtchic
• Food First Foundation
• Hamlet of Enterprise
• Hamlet of Ulukhaktok
• Hay River Family Support Centre
• Hay River Soup Kitchen
• Inclusion NWT
• Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation
• Sahtu Search and Rescue
• Samba K’e First Nation
• Side Door
• St Vincent de Paul
• Teetl’it Gwich’in Band Council
• Town of Inuvik
• Yellowknife Catholic Schools
• Yellowknife Dene First Nations
• Yellowknife Education District #1
• Yellowknife Playschool Association
• Yellowknife Women’s Society
• YWCA NWT

“It’s during challenging times that the North really shines,” said Robin Greig, president of the Yellowknife Community Foundation, in a statement. “In a few short weeks, northerners donated $75,000 to the United Way NWT and we answered that by matching that with our own donation of $75,000 – making it the single largest donation in the foundation’s history.”

United Way NWT thanked the following groups for in-kind donations or cash donations of $1,000 or more:

• Copperhouse Eatery + Lounge
• Det’on Corporation
• Global Storm IT
• Gold Terra
• Gwich’in Development Corporation
• JK Cleaning
• Northern News Services
• NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
• Otto and Marie Pick Foundation
• Scotia Bank
• Yellowknife Co-op
• Yellowknife Rotary Club

Together We Are Strong was designed to “meet immediate needs” of groups supporting vulnerable people across the territory during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Donations were received from April 16 to May 29, and money was distributed to applicants by June 8, United Way NWT said.

The organization called Together We Are Strong “the most successful targeted fundraising campaign” in its history.

Meanwhile, United Way NWT distributed a further $101,500 to various groups on behalf of the federal government.

The federal Emergency Community Support Fund was similarly designed to help front-line organizations working with vulnerable people.

Money from that fund has gone to projects that support students’ mental health, provide personal protective equipment to staff, purchase cleaning supplies, and provide greater one-on-one support for children with disabilities, among other causes.