Hundreds of Christmas boxes heading to Nunavut hamlet after Alberta teen organizes fundraiser

A high school student in Alberta organized a fundraiser that will send hundreds of Christmas presents to children in Sanirajak, Nunavut. 

Cole Garrity is a 15-year-old student at Outreach High School in St. Albert, Alta., who organized the gift box drive after hearing about a similar initiative run by a local RCMP officer in 2021. 

Const. Geoffrey McKay worked across Nunavut with the RCMP that year, helping to fill in for officers who were on leave. 

He was in Coral Harbour, Nunavut, in January 2021 and he asked his wife to send him up a box of some "goodies." 

"I was really excited to get it," he said.  

That year, he was scheduled to go to Sanirajak in March and thought the local children would be equally excited to receive treats from the south. 

So he asked his friends to donate different odds and ends that would be appreciated by nine- or 10-year-olds. 

The project caught on and he started receiving boxes from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia to New York City and McKay showed up at the Sanirajak school with 250 boxes.

The gifts were well appreciated and McKay looks back on his time in Sanirajak fondly. 

"It was one of the nicest communities I've ever been in my life," he said. 

Garrity, the student at Outreach High School, heard about McKay's initiative and decided to do something similar for the children in the community for Christmas.

His school had bake sales and other fundraisers to raise money for the gifts. They also gave presentations at other schools in St. Albert, which led to more donations, including one school that pledged 200 boxes. 

Garrity said he initially hoped for maybe 10 to 20 boxes, but said they could be looking at around 300 arriving in the community of about 900 people.

"It makes me so happy," Garrity said. 

McKay said he wishes he could be back in the community to see the reaction from the children there. 

"I'm so proud of Cole for doing this," he said.

JoAnn Blatchford, Outreach High School's principal, said part of the elementary school curriculum includes learning about northern communities.   

The fundraiser is part of a credit Garrity is receiving to graduate, but she said it's also reflective how much he cares.

"It's just a really feel-good story," she said. 

Boxes are scheduled to arrive in Sanirajak by Christmas, with a second shipment including coats and other winter gear expected to arrive in January.