Nunastar Fund for Northern Children
Supporting the Health, Education and Well-Being of Children
Nunastar Properties has been an active corporate citizen in the community of Iqaluit for over 50 years. In 2009, we introduced the Nunastar Fund for Northern Children which is a $1.987 million endowment fund dedicated to "the health, education and well-being of children and youth in NWT and Nunavut".
Each year, charitable organizations that promote the growth and betterment of children and their families are selected to receive contributions from the Nunastar Fund. Since 2009, we have been able to support a number of truly exceptional organizations that have made a real impact on the lives of northern youth.
Nunastar would like to thank the following partners for contributing to this program: Frobisher Inn & Conference Centre, The Explorer Hotel and Touchstone Holdings Ltd. To date these organizations have collectively donated over $3 million in contributions to worthy causes supporting Canada's North.
Northern Youth Abroad Testimonial (Supported Charity)
The past year has been like no other. It has brought great change, sadness, and restriction to our lives, and for a small charitable organization like Northern Youth Abroad a lot of uncertainty.
Serving youth across Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, our programming has always served as a base for self-discovery and expression, learning and sharing, building confidence and independence by having youth leave their comfort zone in a supportive environment. In March 2020, when the world changed in front of our eyes, we were left asking ourselves “How do we provide experiential education in a time when we are being asked to forego all experiences?” Running travel based experiential education during a global pandemic forced us to quickly pivot.
NYA has been fortunate to have partnered with Nunastar through the “Nunastar Fund for Northern Children” since 2014. With so much uncertainty and the very real threat that our organization may have to close its doors Nunastar stepped up to provide much needed flexibility. Their support afforded NYA the security to pivot to other initiatives that still supported our mandate of helping youth in the Territories we serve. These initiatives included:
- A partnership with Camosun College to offer a remote Bridging Access Program for students wanting to attend college
- Free tutoring to any high school or post-secondary student
- Bursaries to alumni attending post-secondary
- More than 100 online sessions that ranged from physical literacy to cultural teaching and science workshops
- Remote Internships for 5 Northerners attending post-secondary. One of whom started a backpack project that leveraged $75,000 to get school supplies for every child in three communities.
- $500 Microgrants for youth to support 34 projects in their communities
- Partnering with two regional First Nation’s Governments to develop models to improve post-secondary engagement and success for their members
We are beyond appreciative for the willingness of Nunastar to continue to support NYA’s work and we simply would not be here without it. We are humbled by the opportunities that have presented themselves to serve youth across Nunavut and the NWT and are grateful for the support of partners like Nunastar to help invest in our shared vision of building a north where everyone can live, work, and prosper.