PORT HARDY—The North Island Gazette is proud, with the assistance of our many community partners, to announce the launch of the 35th annual Gazette Hamper Fund campaign.
Through the generosity of our North Island neighbours, last year we were able to fill and distribute more than 550 Christmas food and toy hampers for needy families ranging from Port Hardy to Zeballos, Kingcome Inlet and Guilford Island, as well as all points between.
Applications for the 2014 campaign first published in last week’s edition of the Gazette, and can be found again on this page.
The applications will continue to publish here through November, and are also available at the Gazette office on Market Street in Port Hardy and at the Kwakiutl, ‘Namgis, Quatsino and Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Band offices.
Deadline to return the forms this year is Nov. 28.
They may be delivered in person to the Gazette, faxed to us at 250-949-7655, or scanned and emailed to editor@northislandgazette.com.
For those living on reserve, the forms should be turned in at your band office.
How you can help
Contributions to the Hamper Fund can take the form of non-perishable food, children’s toys or money.
The Gazette will publish a list of participating groups and organizations who collect contributions on our behalf through special events.
Among those coming up are the annual Alumni benefit hockey game put on by the North Island Eagles hockey program, and the annual Port McNeill Lions Club Turkey Bingo night.
Other retail businesses collect daily, with gift-wrapped boxes serving as receptacles for purchases in stores that offer food and toys.
Additionally, coin collection tubs will be placed this week on countertops and at cash registers in businesses throughout the region, for your loose change.
Speaking of change, the North Island Return-it Centre in Port Hardy will again set aside your can and bottle return money for donation to the Gazette Hamper Fund upon request.
But the Hamper Fund has become a virtual year-round project, and events have already been held for its benefit.
In late August, the Toy and Rod Run organized by Port McNeill bikers Annie Leblanc and Dawn Harilstad gathered the first of the season’s toys for the Hamper Fund.
In September, Community Futures Mount Waddington hosted its annual Hamper Fund Barbecue and open house, which raised $900.
And in recent weeks, the North Island’s Baptist Churches teamed up for their Create for a Cause event, which brought together scrapbookers and other crafters for a day of fun and fund-raising.
Keep an eye out for announcements in the Gazette and elsewhere for your next chance to take part.
And thank you.