Dressing Communities

“When these young moms come to my door...their eyes are unsure and scared. But once we go through the clothes, we talk, we both feel better when they leave with happy, accepted eyes”

(Quote from one of our elders in Cambridge Bay, NU)

When you think of those who don’t have enough, do you think of people in a poor country or of a certain race? Do you think of the people in your own town? Imagine living in a small town that can only be reached by plane and for part of the summer, by boat. Winter months are in darkness and Summer months are 24 hour daylight. This is the normal way of life for people in Nunavut Canada. Some of the remote communities in Nunavut only have one store that carries a variety of items like a Walmart but not even close to the amounts of stock and prices we pay here in the south. Some communities are lucky to have 2 stores and even a restaurant or two. There are no shopping malls, no theatres, no McDonalds or even a second hand store. Often the joke told is that someone is off shopping at Walmart, but really they are at the dump hoping to find much needed parts or things they can salvage. It is a hard life, especially if you live pay cheque to pay cheque or are on a pension or government assistance.

I had the privilege of living in one of those communities with my husband and children for about 6 years. I learned all I could about the traditions, people and more. I loved it and truthfully a piece of my heart never left. I saw people who have so little compared to those in the south and yet they find reason to celebrate life. Community gatherings were always so joyful and fun. Music, dancing, singing, games that made you laugh and just have fun being there. Food was always brought and each family did what they could to make it enough. I miss those gatherings and have so many great memories to treasure. There is a sad part though, the loneliness of being isolated can weigh heavy on everyone at some point. Young teenagers get into drugs and alcohol and addictions run rampant. There are many very young mothers who just don’t have the resources needed to make better decisions for their children. Often elders would be forgotten and only visited when they wanted something. I was blessed to meet these people and to now call many of them my friends. I miss them and know how hard things are there. So when I got the idea about how to make a difference I made it work.

Here in the south, when you find it too expensive to buy clothing you just go to the 2nd hand stores. We have several available and there is always something we like at affordable prices. Really we often have too many clothes and so we drop off a bag to donate or we throw away things and so much of it ends up in the landfills. I decided back in September 2020, things had to change and I started developing a plan. Within a few days I had support from friends and family and donations coming to my door faster than I could sort. Covid restriction didn’t stop the need for clothing and we knew with some careful planning we could work within the restriction. Canada Post sells flat rate boxes that can be shipped anywhere in Canada. As long as the box wasn’t over 11lbs (5kg) and the box wasn’t bulging we could ship clothing to northern communities. So I Got to work with my friends up north and made connections to the elders in several communities. Dressing Communities sent our first boxes in October 2020 and they arrived safe. The first box helped make much needed connections within the community itself. The elder felt a sense of purpose and the people receiving the items felt good about getting things they needed from us and an elder they knew.

I chose elders to be gifted the boxes because I knew the one thing that could help end the loneliness for them was to feel needed. When you don’t feel like you have a purpose depression can kick in pretty quickly and without help that can be chronic, especially in a small remote community. The elders know who everyone in town is and who is in need of things. They know how to reach out to people and they understand what the community members are going through. I have received many thank you messages from our elders and I am so grateful for their willingness to be a part of this. For many, a hard past makes trusting outsiders difficult. I am trying to change that, because being on edge, not knowing if you can trust anyone is hard both physically and mentally. I wanted this program to not just help get the clothing to them but to help in other ways to. That means no cost to the communities or elders. We have been fundraising in as many ways as we can think of and so far we have been able to send boxes to 7 communities with 13 elders involved. Word is spreading and we hope to be able to reach even more. We send one box per month to each elder and our fundraising has kept us going. We started with an idea and a Facebook group that is growing daily and we are making a difference in these communities. We are showing people they matter and are worth our efforts.

One of the fundraisers we do is any clothing not wearable we up-cycle into a sellable product to help raise funds. We make one of a kind ornaments, and washable make-up wipes in a cloth bag. All made from clothing no longer good enough to wear. We have only just gotten started and there is so much more we can do.

Do you want to make a difference? Join us on Facebook, or follow us on Instagram, get in touch. You can mail clothing from your town too. My dream is to eventually reach more communities than just the ones in Nunavut. The territories and northern parts of provinces all have remote communities in need. Our landfills have enough and do not need more. Let’s make sure people know they matter. Let’s get dressing these communities.