A cab ride sparked Fort McPherson’s first food bank |
For the first time, residents of Fort McPherson, N.W.T., have a local food bank — a milestone community leaders say has become necessary as soaring grocery prices leave more families struggling to afford food.
Launched by Muslim Welfare Canada and the Tetlit Gwich’in Council, the food bank will distribute groceries twice a month to about 100 registered families in the remote Gwich’in community of roughly 800 people.
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“The overwhelming response was just awesome,” Diane Koe, president of the Tetlit Gwich’in Council, told Broadview. “Everybody was so excited and grateful. We had a steady flow between 2-5 p.m. and then I got phone calls from people saying they missed out on the first distribution.”
Situated along the Dempster Highway and 121 kilometres south of the town of Inuvik, Fort McPherson used to serve as the main trading post for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Mackenzie Delta for over 50 years. Teet’lit Zheh, the Gwich’in name for the hamlet,........