Looking back on this year’s edition of the Pingngupaa Challenge

This year’s Pingngupaa Challenge has demonstrated what the true purpose of community is. There has been a tremendous amount of enthusiasm on the private Facebook group, on which participants shared and supported each other throughout the month. Every call for help was answered by waves of support from other participants, all with the ultimate goal of promoting a healthy lifestyle, raising funds for Isuarsivik’s mission, and raising awareness around substance abuse in the region.

This year’s objective was to raise a total of $50,000 to help make the Centre’s services more accessible to the 14 communities of Nunavik as well as to provide the new Centre with the equipment and accessories necessary to support its cultural mission. The Challenge came to an end with a total of $49,028 raised through donations from sponsors from every community in the region as well as organizations such as Makivik, Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, Glencore, and many more.

Despite challenges brought by the current pandemic, Nunavimmiut came together and jumped headfirst into the Challenge again this year. A record total of 267 participants, supported by a network of 635 sponsors were registered for the challenge and stayed sober for the month of February. We are extremely proud of the outcome of this year’s edition despite missing our fundraising objectives by less than a thousand dollars. The Challenge has been received extremely positively by the community once again and demonstrates a common will to work together to tackle the current issues around substance abuse. We are extremely hopeful that the Pingngupaa Challenge will keep initiating change and increase our impact in all 14 communities as it grows every year.