Iqaluit charities contemplate board to end all boards

SEAN McKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT— Iqaluit charities may have a new place to turn for funding and guidance.

Former Sailivik volunteer Bill Ridell says he thinks the way to avoid burnout among volunteers is to create one large community group to oversee a number of charitable endeavors such as the Iqaluit soup kitchen, the homeless shelter, and a drop-in center for mental health patients.

“There are so many small little societies. If they had one central agency that could take on a number of projects maybe it could work,” said Ridell. He said that he’s been approached by a number of people who feel bad about the closure of the Sailivik Centre and want to do something about it.

“These are very good, strong volunteers,” he said. With a strong core and proper organization of volunteers he said it might be possible to avoid burnout.

“Some people want to do the hands-on volunteer kind of thing and work directly in a soup kitchen say, while other people don’t want to do that. They want to sit on a board and look at dealing with the overall operation of an organization.”

Three weeks ago the centre had to close because it couldn’t find enough people to sit on its board of directors and form a quorum. Without a board Sailivik couldn’t legally be a charitable society, Riddell said.

However, a strong organization such as that governing the women’s shelter might expand its role and take on other projects. Ridell it would be up to individual groups whether they wanted to join the larger board.

He’s holding a meeting Sept. 8 at the Sailivik Centre for people to discuss the idea and Ridell also wants to discuss the possibility of establishing a United Way in the town.

Established first in Toronto and Montreal in the early 20th century, the United Way is now a loosely affiliated group of agencies that raise funds for organizations in their local communities.

The Yukon has a United Way that raises money for groups across the territory.

“What a United Way has to do is look at what are the issues the government isn’t funding that we should be funding,” said David Armour, president of United Way Canada.

By mounting unified fundraising campaigns, United Ways are able to raise funds for community projects such as YMCAs, Big Brothers and Sisters organizations, Boy Scouts, and any other charitable organization a community wants to raise money for, Armour said.

“But the desire has to come from the community,” said Armour. He said that what is needed to establish a United Way in a community is a collective effort from business people, unions, and community leaders.