Peggy Revell
In an “unbelievable” display of generosity, an estimated 6,000-7,000 pounds of emergency relief supplies have poured in from across the district for children in need living in remote Pikangikum First Nation.
“It’s been unbelievable, especially with the economic problems not just here but across Ontario and Canada,” said Marty Nelson of Family & Children’s Services here and chair of the Pikangikum Relief Committee, which set out in November to collect donations of diapers, infant formula, winter clothing, and more.
“This was something that we thought, ‘Oh, we’d have a couple of bag fulls, and some food and something you could put in on the back of a pickup truck,” she added.
But instead of just a few donations, the public responded with box after box—and bag after bag—of the requested items.
“It’s been unbelievable and we definitely want to say thank you, right from Rainy River to Atikokan, right across the board,” Nelson said as the donation drive wraps up.
The local effort to help Pikangikum was launched by FACS last month after the Tikinagan Child and Family Services of Sioux Lookout sent out an urgent request for assistance.
Located 100 km northwest of Red Lake, Pikangikum is facing “extreme social problems,” such as over-crowded and inadequate housing (many homes lack running water, sewage, and hydro), inadequate community infrastructure (such as poor water filtration and inadequate school facilities), and high unemployment rates, Nelson noted in the original appeal to the public for assistance.
The community also faces high rates of alcoholism and solvent abuse, and has seen 26 suicides over the last two years.
With a population of around 2,400, the average age in Pikangikum is 21 and roughly 47 percent of the population under the age of 15—with many of the children now in Tikinagan’s care.
Because of this, through the North South Partnership for Children, Tikinagan sent out an appeal for help for the children of Pikangikum, requesting emergency relief supplies such as infant formula, diapers, winter clothing, infant clothing, non-perishable food items, as well as monetary donations.
“When we first started talking about a north-south partnership, we were talking about a van, taking a van up there, and we get several vans a day now [dropping off donations],” noted FACS executive director Vik Nowak.
“I’m incredulous,” he said about the public’s response to the call for help, which has resulted in the boardroom at the FACS office on First Street East literally being filled to the ceiling with donations.
“Every time I walk into this room, it takes my breathe away that the people have been able to donate this kind of stuff,” Nowak added.
“A lot of it isn’t even used, a lot of people just simply went to Wal-Mart or wherever and they buy this stuff and put it in the box.
“It’s incredible. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect this,” he enthused.
Now that the donations have been collected, Nowak admitted the next challenge is to get everything to Pikangikum and ensure those in the most need receive the aid.
Nelson explained Pikangikum is a fly-in community so they still are working on their options for getting the donations there.
While a couple of airlines have called to say they can help with the transportation, she noted the weight of the donations means flying in the goods may not be the best way to deliver them.
“We’ve got about five different stops that we have to do,” Nelson explained. “We have to drive all this to Red Lake, unload it on a plane, fly it across [to the airstrip in Pikangikum], unload it to a truck, take it to the church, unload it all again.”
Given the amount donated, it could take at least 10 plane trips, she noted.
The other option is to wait until an ice road goes in and deliver everything by truck.
“We’re kind of exploring our options with vehicles, but we’re going to need one big truck and lots of volunteers to load it up,” Nelson said.
“So if anybody wants to come and volunteer, we’ll definitely put out a date when we’re uploading bags.
“It’s kind of expensive,” she conceded. “So maybe if someone is wanting to help out in some way, that would be great.”
“I don’t think any of us ever imagined that we would actually get this amount,” echoed Jacquee Loerzel of FACS in the midst of sorting all the donations Friday morning.
“The neat thing about this project is there are lots of partnerships to be done as far as getting everything completed,” she noted.
“We are partnering with people that are familiar with the community and people who are already in the community, as well.
“So it’s going to be a big partnership project in the end just to get it all done.”
Loerzel stressed they just want to express their thanks and amazement at the generosity of the community and the entire district, adding everything which they had requested has been met.
“We’ve had people from Kenora phoning,” Nelson said of the response. “We’ve had people from B.C. calling, [people] outside of Toronto.
“We’ve had people from outside of the province calling us.”
As of Friday, Nelson said she had clocked 85 phone calls from people just looking for more information since FACS first started the project.
Meanwhile, more than 2,600 people have joined a Facebook group which was set up to raise awareness and donations, as well as organize volunteers.
“We’d also like to thank those businesses and organizations that made monetary donations for the project, as well,” said Loerzel.
“And the schools and just everybody,” added Nelson, noting students and staff from both the Rainy River District School Board and Northwest Catholic District School Board have been working to raise funds and donations for the children of Pikangikum.
For more information about the assistance effort, call FACS at 274-7787.
