There have been challenges along the way, but a Baker Lake thrift store officially opened its doors on May 11.

The store is being run by the Abluqta Society and profits from the venture will be used to fund a food bank for the community.

The idea for the society and store came about when Erin Strachan of Performance Management Consultants delivered an employment training program in Baker funded by the career development division of the Department of Family Services in 2016.

The program is designed to help people with disabilities or other difficulties find work.

When members of Baker's health and wellness committee mentioned the need for a thrift store in the community to Strachan SA国际影视传媒� who already felt her course participants were in need of work experience SA国际影视传媒� the seeds were planted for the creation of the Abluqta Society and the thrift store.

Joseph Arnasungaaq is president of the society, while Sharon Alerk will be managing the thrift store.

Strachan said she also learned of the need of a food bank in Baker, with the last one in the community closing its doors in 2015.

The thrift store is open two days a week SA国际影视传媒� Thursday and Saturday.

SA国际影视传媒淲e actually just got started with the food bank side of things this past week,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淭he society held a bingo recently to raise some more funding for the store and it's going to use some of the proceeds from the bingo to buy the first items for the food bank and distribute them to 10 families in need in Baker just to get started. We are, at the same time, working to find more sustainable funding for the food bank side of the operation.SA国际影视传媒�

Strachan said the thrift store received a seacan full of donated items from the Ikurraq Food Bank (Deacon's Cupboard) in Rankin Inlet to get the operation off to a good start.

She said since opening, the store has been receiving a lot of donated items from people in the community.

SA国际影视传媒淭he items have been coming from people moving to the south again, people working on rotation with Agnico Eagle Mines and some people who just had some items to donate,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

Clothing donations used to be left in a community hall for people to come and rifle through the bags looking for whatever they needed but members of the wellness committee didn't think that was a very dignified way of doing things, said Strachan.

SA国际影视传媒淲e hope, it's better for the community to have a store people can go to for their thrift items,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淭hey do have to pay a little something for them SA国际影视传媒� the items are very reasonably priced SA国际影视传媒� but it's providing a supply of used clothing and household items, while also raising money to support the food bank.SA国际影视传媒�

Strachan said the Abluqta Society have been developing this initiative for the past three years and it has been a real challenge to secure funding to get the operation up and running.

SA国际影视传媒淚t's taken a lot of volunteer effort and organization to get it to the point where it is now, and I'm really hopeful we'll be able to find some long-term funding going forward,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淭he volunteer food bank in Baker that closed in 2015 ran for 25 years solely on bingos. They'd, basically, hold a bingo and then buy food and distribute it in the community.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淭he thing was; a lot of times the same people who were playing bingo also needed food, so it wasn't, perhaps, the most ethical way of doing it, but the fact of the matter is there are a lot of hungry people in Baker Lake, and elsewhere in Nunavut for that matter,SA国际影视传媒� she added. SA国际影视传媒淚t would be ideal to have some way of generating revenue for the food bank side of things that doesn't involve gambling, and we're really trying to make that happen.SA国际影视传媒�

Strachan said Susan Toolooktook, a community elder, pretty much ran the previous food bank in Baker by herself and is now on the Abluqta Society committee.

She said Toolooktook is simply an incredible person.

SA国际影视传媒淪usan has a disability in that she's deaf, but she's the best hunter in town. She'll go out by herself on a -40 C day and come back with a muskox or a caribou,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淏ack on Valentine's Day in 1985, she did a Walk for Love SA国际影视传媒� she actually did two back-to-back marathons by herself with just her dog SA国际影视传媒� to raise awareness about food insecurity in Baker Lake.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淚t will be very, very good for Susan to get to see this come together in her lifetime because she devoted so much of her love and energy into wanting to see people in Baker have enough food,SA国际影视传媒� she said.