Cancer Support
Group to Meet
Sitka Cancer Support Group will meet 1 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at the Brave Heart Volunteers building on the Pioneers Home grounds.
Those in cancer treatment, cancer survivors and family members are invited to spend some time with others who understand what they are going through.
The support group is sponsored by Sitka Cancer Survivors Society. Call or email Mary Beth with questions, or if a ride is needed to attend, at 623-0842, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Friends of SJ Museum
Gets National Arts Grant
The National Endowment for the Arts will make a $20,000 grant award to Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum to support the Sheldon Jackson Museum’s Native Artist Residency Program.
NEA makes grants to thousands of nonprofits each year.
“The NEA is committed to advancing learning, fueling creativity, and celebrating the arts in cities and towns across the United States,’’ said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. ‘‘Funding these projects like the one from Sheldon Jackson Museum represents an investment in both local communities and our nation’s creative vitality.”
Through the Sheldon Jackson Museum’s Native Artist Residency Program, artists from around the state fill residencies at the museum, studying the collections and sharing their work with the public through artist lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on classes.
Artists hosted in the residency program, the museum’s artist-led classes and hands-on workshops and artist talks will be advertised in flyers distributed around Sitka and available at the Sheldon Jackson Museum, and online at www.friendsofsjm.com , the Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum Facebook page, and at http://museums.alaska.gov/sheldon_jackson/sjnativedemos.html.
Individuals wishing to be added to the museum’s public programs email list should call 747-8981.
Summer hours at the Sheldon Jackson Museum are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Summer admission is $5 for adults and $4 for seniors. Visitors 18 and under are admitted free of charge. Assistance is available for visitors with special needs. Please contact the museum for more information at 747-8981.
Birds of Sitka
Boat Cruise Set
Sitka Conservation Society’s Birds of Sitka Sound boat cruise will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 26.
All are invited to join local naturalists to explore the ecosystem through the lens of resident and migratory bird behavior. Weather permitting, the cruise will go to St. Lazaria to see a wide array of bird species including tufted puffins and rhinoceros auklets.
Tickets are available at Old Harbor Books for $45. For more information call 747-7509 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Alaska Day Panel
Meets May 19
Coordinators for Sitka’s 2015 mid-October community Alaska Day Festival will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, at Centennial Hall and each following third Tuesday of the month.
To recognize its importance in community life, “Meet Me at Centennial” is this year’s theme chosen by the Alaska Day Committee.
Persons having comments about Festival activities or new volunteers are invited to attend the meetings or contact Chairman Ted Allio at 747-5124 or Schedule Coordinator Elaine Strelow at 747-3469.
Other trustees for 2015 are Joan Berge, Betty Conklin, Helen Cunningham, Steve Dalquist (vice chairman), Jen Houx, Lisa Langenfeld, Marsha Lysons, Elaine Strelow (secretary), Linda Trierschield, MaryLou Vilandre, and Ann Wilkinson (treasurer). A liaison from the U.S. Coast Guard is to be named. The Festival’s mailing address is P.O. Box 1355, Sitka.
Sport-Fishing
Meet May 15
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Alaska State Troopers invites anglers to the annual sport fishing meeting 6 p.m. Friday, May 15, at Centennial Hall.
ADFG staff and Alaska state troopers will be on hand to answer any questions the angling public may have about regulations, enforcement, guiding, bag and possession limits.
Coho Clan Meets
The coho Clan will meet to discuss the upcoming fail Khoo.eex’, memorial potlatch, 1 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at 314 Katlian Street.
Members are encouraged to take a dish or beverage to share at the meeting. Call Chuck, 738-4025, with questions.
Benefit Dinner for
Relay for Life
A Relay for Life fundraiser is set 5-9 p.m. Monday, May 18, at Pizza Express. Fifteen percent of money made will be donated to the American Cancer Society.
‘‘Please come and help us pack the house for a wonderful cause,’’ said SEARHC hospital, sponsors of thisyear’s Relay for Life event. ‘‘The funds raised truly make a difference in the fight against cancer.’’
Adult Karate
Offered by SCS
Sitka Community Schools is offering adult karate with Sensi Marcello 6:30-7:15 p.m. Tuesdays, May 19-June 10, at Baranof Elementary School gym.
The cost is $55. Registration is open. Call 747-8670 with questions.
Lil Dragons
Karate Taught
Lil Dragons Karate for 4- and 5-year-olds is slated 9-9:45 a.m. Saturdays. Cost is $40.
The instructor is Sensei Marcello. Registration is open at Sitka Community Schools. Call 747-8670 with questions.
Volunteer Work
Party May 16
A volunteer work party is planned Saturday, May 16, on the SJ Campus. Participants will meet at Whitmore Hall at 9 a.m., break for a hot lunch at noon, and continue until 3 p.m.
Tasks include grouting tile in the new bathrooms, restoring the original Whitmore dorm room floors and exterior painting of Whitmore Hall and the laundry building. All are invited to join at any time. Call Sitka Fine Arts Camp office at 747-3085 with questions.
Conversation
In Art May 21
A Conversation about Art with Sitka artists Cara Murray, a contemporary folk artist; Eugene Solovyov, a poet and local gallery owner; and mixed-media artist Chad Vickery is set 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at the Yaw Art Center on the Fine Arts Campus.
The program is presented by the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, and is open to all community members. For more information call Marcus at 747-3085.
Volunteers Visit
Lutheran Church
Carlyn Nankervis and Mia Hoyer, sisters who grew up together, then ended up in Minnesota and Georgia, are volunteers at Sitka Lutheran Church this month.
Both traveled and volunteered extensively and are educators with a professional background in ESL, exchange programs, early childhood education and elementary school.
Hoyer is a lifelong Lutheran who has been involved in varied church activities. Nankervis has taught vacation Bible school in Minto, among other church involvement.
While in Sitka they will greet visitors, explain the Finnish-Lutheran history, interpret the historic Lutheran Cemetery, care for the building and share the Gospel.
This year, Sitka Lutheran Church is celebrating the 175th anniversary of its founding during the Russian-American Period.
Sitkans and summer visitors are welcome to attend 10:30 a.m. Sunday services and a soup supper 6 p.m. Wednesdays, followed by a short prayer service.
For more information call the church office at 747-3338 or visit the church’s web site at www.sitkalutheranchurch.org. or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
AMHS Summer 2015 Ferry Service Moves Forward as Scheduled
The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry service for summer 2015 will proceed as scheduled with one exception of one significant revision.
The M/V Taku won’t sail in July and August, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities says.
Gov. Bill Walker restored funding to the AMHS fiscal year 2016 operating budget by allocating $5.5 million of unused fiscal year 2015 AMHS fuel trigger funds. The additional funding allows AMHS to provide ferry service as previously scheduled, except for the Taku.
“The additional funding allows AMHS to honor its previously booked reservations to Alaskans, visitors and businesses,” said ADOT&PF Deputy Commissioner Michael Neussl. “The department apologizes for any inconvenience the uncertainty in the AMHS budget and the resulting schedule changes may have caused for passengers who have planned travel aboard state ferries this summer.”
The MV Taku schedule was revised after maintenance to other ferries delayed the Taku’s annual overhaul. Originally May to July 1, it’s now scheduled to return to service in October 2015. Affected passengers are being contacted to re-book on other available vessels.
All other ferries will sail with minimal or no changes to the published summer schedule. It’s available online at FerryAlaska.com.
“While summer service for this year has been essentially restored, travelers and Alaskans must remember that the state is still facing a $4 billion budget deficit. The AMHS schedule for the upcoming winter season and summer 2016 will likely be different than years past,” Neussl said.
AMHS will release a draft winter 2015-2016 schedule for public review and comment this summer after the operating budget has been finalized.