Daily Sitka Sentinel

August 4, 2020, Community Happenings

Kayaani Panel

Meets Aug. 6

Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s Kayaani Commission  will meet online via Zoom 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6.  For information on how to participate in the meeting call Jeff Feldpausch at 747-7469 or email jeff.feldpausch@sitkatribe-nsn.

Campground

Opening Today

Sawmill Creek Campground will open for camping today. The food-conditioned brown bear, which caused the closure on July 24, has not returned to the campground in 10 days, the Sitka Ranger District said.

Food storage receptacles and one trash receptacle are available for public use.

For information, contact the Sitka Ranger District at 738-4479.

Summer Food

Program Provided

Sitka Conservation Society, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Youth Advocates of Sitka, and Kids Kupboard are partnering to provide free breakfast and lunch to youths through the USDA Summer Food Service Program.

Meals for the entire week can be picked up 8:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and Fridays through Aug. 28 in the STA parking lot.

The food is available for youths to age 18, with no registration necessary. Delivery is also available. For information about pick-up, or to sign up for delivery, email carly@sitkawild.org or call 623-8309.

Chair Yoga Slated

A free six-week series of Senior Chair Yoga is being offered via Zoom. The series will be facilitated by Sue Conrad, certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor, in partnership with SEARHC.  

Classes will be held 12:05 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Aug. 11-Sept. 17. No experience is necessary to attend and participants can join at any time during the series.  

To register or for assistance setting up Zoom, contact Erin Matthes at 966-8720 or ematthes@searhc.org.

Small Business,

Nonprofits Tapped

For Relief Grants

Applications are available for the Small Business and Nonprofit Relief and Recovery Grants.

Applications are available from the  front page of the city website at www.cityofsitka.com. They can be filled out electronically or printed and scanned to submit by email to caresgrants@cityofsitka.org.

‘‘Submission online is highly preferred and provides the applicant with proof of timely submission,’’ the city said.

They also can be hand-delivered or mail applications to City Hall at 100 Lincoln Street, Sitka, AK 99835, Attn: CARES Grant Admin.

Applications received after the deadline of Aug. 31 will not be accepted.

Trees Given

For Arbor Day

Everyone who joins the Arbor Day Foundation in August with a $10 donation will receive 10 free Norway spruce trees or 10 white flowering dogwood trees through the Foundation’s Trees for America campaign.

The trees will be shipped postpaid between Oct. 15 and Dec. 10, depending on the right time for planting in this area. The 6- to 12-inch trees are guaranteed to grow or they will be replaced free of charge.

“Norway spruce trees truly provide year-round beauty for any landscape,” said Matt Harris, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “White flowering dogwood trees will add color and beauty to your yard throughout the year, with their showy spring flowers, scarlet autumn foliage, and red berries that attract songbirds in the winter.”

New members of the Arbor Day Foundation also will receive ‘‘The Tree Book,’’ which includes information about tree planting and care, and a subscription to Arbor Day, the Foundation’s bimonthly publication.

To receive the free Norway spruce trees, join online at arborday.org/august or send a $10 membership contribution by Aug. 31 to: Ten Free Norway Spruces OR Ten Free White Dogwood, Arbor Day Foundation, 211 N 12th Street, Lincoln, NE 68508.

Two Volunteers

In Spotlight 

Among the new AmeriCorps volunteers for the 2020-21 service year are Megan Wright of Frederick, Maryland, and Tristan O’Malley, of Elkins, West Virginia.

A graduate of Flagler College, Wright will be serving for 12 months at University of Alaska Southeast.

Her hopes for her year, she said, includes seeking “a deeper understanding of not only the aquatic ecosystems home to Sitka, but also the political steps regarding steps being taken to protect these habitats for organisms and Indigenous cultural practices. I am looking forward to working with like-minded people as we learn, explore, and grow together.’’

O’Malley, who will serve at Sitka High School, grew up in a rural West Virginia town and received his degree in linguistics from Ohio University.

This year, he had been serving in the Peace Corps in Irshava, Ukraine, when Peace Corps volunteers from around the world in March were evacuated due to the pandemic. He had been working as a secondary school English teacher.

“That experience has taught me that anyone can do anything that they want to do as long as they work hard enough to achieve it. It is that mindset that I would like to share with the students of Sitka. Also, Sitka looks really cool, and I want to live there!”