May 29, 2015 Community Happenings

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Category: News

Created on Friday, 29 May 2015 09:51

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Bake Sale Set

For Cancer Society

American Cancer Society Relay for Life Teams, We Ruhle and Forget-Me-Not Crusaders, are having a bake sale at Wells Fargo Bank lobby 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, May 30.

Baked goods needed are homemade cream puffs, cinnamon rolls, maple bars, cupcakes, breads, cookies and other items.

The public is invited to stop by to purchase goodies to support the teams.

Card of Thanks

To people of Sitka who helped us: Father Michael for graveside service for the Farquhar family, Anne, Thomas and Eddie; those who helped, Karen Coleman, Stan Filler; and those who attended the reception; Renee Wheat for the beautiful music; Sitka Sentinel for providing information for us in the paper; Jeff and Ray Nielsen for cooking; Beverly Dexter for always being there; Herman Davis and family for always being there for us.

Sarah Williams and family,

Karin, Alicia, EJ and Brianna

Library Panel Meets

The Library Commission will meet 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, on the second floor of Kettleson Memorial Library’s Stratton location at 831 Lincoln Street.

Agenda items may be upcoming library programming, including the Summer Reading Program; the status of Sitka’s libraries joining of the Joint Alaska Library Consortium; the status of the library expansion project; the library budget for 2015-2016; possible changes to the library operating schedule; and the proposed library name change.

The public is invited to attend. Contact Robb Farmer at 747-8708 with  questions, comments or agenda items.

Bear Hunting

Season to End

Hunters are reminded the remainder of the Unit 4 registration brown bear hunt, outside drainages, ends May 31. The inside drainages ended May 20.

Successful hunters must report harvest to Fish and Game within 10 days of kill and have the bear sealed within 30 days. Hunters who obtained Unit 4 registration permits for brown bear this spring must return hunt reports by June 15, 2015. Hunt reports can be mailed or dropped off at the Sitka ADF&G office at 304 Lake Street, Room 103.

Unsuccessful hunters and those who did not hunt may report online at www.hunt.alaska.gov. For more information please contact Fish and Game in Sitka at 747-5449.

Japanese-Americans

Incarceration Discussed

Yosh Nakagawa, a researcher from Seattle, will speak on the incarceration of Japanese and Japanese-Americans during World War II, as well as how Alaska is part of that American story, 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, at Kettleson Memorial Library.

Nakagawa’s research is part of a National Park Service study of internment sites at Bainbridge Island, Washington, and Minidoka, Idaho.

The public is invited to attend.  For further information, contact Robb Farmer, 747-8708, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . 

Story Time Set

Kettleson Memorial Library will  have a preschool story time 10:30 a.m. Thursday, June 4.

‘‘Do Super Heroes Have Teddy Bears’’ by Carmela LaVigna Coyle will be one of the readings. Songs, games around literacy activities and a craft project are part of the program. For more information call the library at 747-8708.

Reading Buddy

Meeting on Tap

Kettleson Memorial Library adult reading buddies volunteers will have a brief meeting session 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 6, at the library.

Following the training, at 11 a.m., adults will meet their reading buddies and her/his parents. New volunteers are encouraged to attend. For more information, call the library at 747-8708.

Summer Swim

Lessons Listed

Summer swim lessons are being offered at Blatchley pool. Registration is open at the Sitka Community Schools office.

The pool offers three three-week sessions this season:  June 8-26; July 6-24; and July 27-Aug. 14. Classes are 30 minutes and run from 8 a.m. to noon. The cost is $70.

Karate Offered

Karate classes for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students will be offered 10-10:30 a.m. Saturdays at Blatchley Middle School.

The cost is $35. The session runs June 13-July 11 and registration is open at the Sitka Community Schools office.

Summer Camps

Set to Register

Sitka Community Schools will have summer camp activities June 1-July 30. 

Opportunities are available for all ages. Some of the camps include cupcakes, hockey, animals, bowling, art, jump rope, Minecraft, outdoor games, dance and others. Registration is open at the Community Schools Office at Blatchley Middle School.

Missouri Couple

Volunteers at

Lutheran Church

Kathryn and Ervin Kufahl, of Reeds Spring, Missouri, will volunteer in June at Sitka Lutheran Church.

Ervin Kufahl is a retired machinist and Kathryn Kufahl has a passion as a master gardener.

The Kufahls have lived most of their lives in Wisconsin and moved recently to Missouri to retire. They are lifelong Lutherans and have visited Alaska four times.

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 is celebrating the 175th anniversary of its founding during the Russian American Period.

Sitkans and summer visitors are welcome to attend Sunday morning worship service at 10:30 a.m. At  6 p.m. Wednesdays a soup supper is followed by a short prayer service.

For more information call the church office at 747-3338 or visit the website at www.sitaklutheranchurch.org, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Sitka Health Summit Wins

Funding as a ‘Pacesetter’

The Sitka Health Summit has been named a final awardee and will receive funding from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to support promising community-based work on health improvement, as part of the Spreading Community Accelerators through Learning and Evaluation initiative.

Made possible by a $4.8 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and led by IHI, Community Solutions, Communities Joined in Action, and the Collaborative Health Network, SCALE will help communities improve the health of targeted populations and develop ways to share and spread community-driven approaches.

Sitka Health Summit has been named a pacesetter community and will use the grant funds to help support the Sitka MAPP Community Health Assessment and citizen health initiatives; identify and address health disparities; and provide shared tools to support a stronger culture of health collaboration. 

Sitka Health Summit is a coalition of health organizations – Brave Heart Volunteers, Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, Sitka Community Hospital, and the State Department of Public Health Nursing in Sitka.

“After reviewing hundreds of impressive applications, we are pleased to welcome these 24 communities to the SCALE initiative and to bring them together to deepen their ability to create effective improvement and to generously share what’s currently working in various locales,” stated Soma Stout, MD, MS, Principal Innovator in SCALE, and Executive External Lead, Health Improvement, IHI.

“We are incredibly excited and honored that the SCALE initiative chose us as a Pacesetter community,’’ the Sitka Health Summit said in a press release. ‘‘SCALE offers our coalition and our community a unique opportunity to build on our strengths and address our challenges, so that we can work more productively and collaboratively towards a common vision of community health and wellness. This grant comes at a critical juncture in our community, as we confront shrinking local and state resources. We look forward to working with SCALE during this period of transition and change.”

Comments Sought on Sitka

Coordinated Transit Plan

The public comment period is open for the draft 2015-19 Sitka Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Coordinated Plan, which is updated every five years and used by various agencies in Sitka when they apply for transportation-related grants.

The plan looks at the strengths and gaps in Sitka’s public transit/paratransit system. Sitka’s public transit services are managed by Center for Community in partnership with Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Southeast Social Services. Public transit in Sitka includes both the fixed-route blue buses that run on schedules (the RIDE), and the white Care-A-Van paratransit buses for seniors and persons needing an assisted ride.

The draft plan looks at how to improve human services transportation. The plan also discusses services for people who need the RIDE or Care-A-Van for work and school commutes, shopping, doctor and social service appointments, social and cultural events, and just getting around town.

The panel sought input from anybody living and/or traveling in Sitka, including representatives from social service, governmental, or nonprofit organizations that provide human services transportation for their clients, such as SAIL, SAFV, SEARHC, Sitka Community Hospital, Youth Advocates of Sitka, the Sitka Pioneer Home, Sitka School District and Mt. Edgecumbe High School.

A copy of the prepublication draft of the coordinated plan can be picked up at the Center for Community office, 700 Katlian St., Suite B, or at the Sitka Tribe of Alaska main office, 456 Katlian St. (upstairs). It also is posted on the Center for Community website at http://www.cfc.org/our-services-2/the-ride. 

Public comments can be emailed to Center for Community Transit Project Assistant Charles Bingham at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by June 15; or sent by regular mail to Charles Bingham, c/o Center for Community, 700 Katlian St., Suite B, Sitka, Alaska, 99835, so long as they are postmarked by Wednesday, June 10.

A summary of comments then will be presented to Sitka Tribe of Alaska, which will hear a resolution approving the draft plan at its regular tribal council meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17, at the Sheet’ká Kwáan Naa Kahídi.

The tribal council meeting is open to the public and will include a time for public comment on the plan.

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