Silent Auction Set
For SJ Museum
Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum will host a silent auction and bake sale 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
Proceeds support the Native Artist Residency Program.
Email friendsofsjm@gmail.com or call 907-747-6233 for information.
Climate Connection: Community Gardens
Momentum is building in support of establishing community gardens on unused municipal land. Letters of support now exist from Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the Homeless Coalition. Letters are being sought from the Sustainability Commission and Parks and Recreation. Both the Sitka 5-year Strategic Plan and longer-term Comprehensive Plan mention the importance of local food production. With sign-up sheets at the Electrification Expo and the Local Foods Network website, more than 30 residents have already expressed interest in garden plots.
What is required of potential sites? A half-acre site allows 50 plots to achieve economy of scale and enough gardeners to maintain a cooperative management association. The contours can’t be too steep or irregular, and they need good southerly exposure. The gardens must be easily accessible to neighborhoods and have access to city water, sewer, and electricity. Finally, our community needs to be supportive of gardens as permanent public amenities, similar to parks, ballfields, and libraries. The sought-for municipal designation of proposed community garden sites would allow two nonprofits – Transition Sitka and the Sitka Local Food Network – to seek grant funding to clear the land, build fences to protect the gardens from deer, and install water systems.
Seattle has 91 community gardens managed by a small municipal staff and is now celebrating a 50-year anniversary. Juneau added a new community garden this year at Thane near downtown and has a 29-year-old 2.5-acre garden at Mendenhall Valley managed by the Juneau Garden Association without municipal staff.
The next steps toward community gardens in Sitka are to request leases of the municipal property for the Planning Department, which will prepare background materials such as photographs, neighborhood surveys, and recommendations. Lease proposals will be reviewed by the Planning Commission and, if recommended, will go to the Assembly for determination of lease duration, price, and whether the leases should be competitive. With Assembly support and guidance, the Planning Department will draw up materials for lease agreements and an ordinance to go back to the Assembly. The nonprofits requesting the leases will have expenses such as a site survey and insurance.
These are a lot of steps, and community support will be critical to realizing community gardens in Sitka. If we can get Planning Commission and Assembly support, volunteers can help clear land for garden beds, amend soils with seaweed, shell sand, and compost, and contribute resources, much as we volunteered for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp on the Sheldon Jackson College campus for years of Saturdays and 100-volunteer days after 2011.
---Kay Kreiss, Transition Sitka
Legislative Meetings
Offered Next Week
The following legislative meetings will be held and can be attended at the Sitka Legislative Information Office, 201 Katlian Street, Suite 103.
Senate Finance will discuss ‘‘Pending Introduction and Referral: Legislation Relating to the Permanent Fund Dividend’’ 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 21.
House Finance will discuss: ‘‘SB 34: Citizen Advisory Committee on Federal Areas 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 17. Public testimony will be taken with a time limit; and SB 122: Appropriation on Taxable Income; Digital Business’’ will be discussed at 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 17. Testimony is invited.
Senate Finance will meet 9 a.m. Thursday, April 20, testimony will be taken. Discussion will be on HB39: Appropriation, Operating budget, loans, fund; HB 41 Appropriations, Mental Health Budget; and SB41 Appropriations Capital, Supplemental.
For a full list of topics, visit akleg.gov and click on “Daily Schedule.” Meetings may be canceled at any time. Constituents can track bills by text. Call the Sitka Legislative Office at 747-6276 or visit akleg.gov for more information.
Snorkeling Event
Slated On April 21
All are invited to join Sitka Sound Science Center 8:30 a.m. Friday, April 21, for a snorkel adventure at Magic Island.
Participants will learn about local seaweed species from SSSC Scientist in Residency Fellow Brian Ulaski. Hot chocolate and snacks will follow. The event is free and all equipment will be provided by SSSC.
Swimmers will need a towel and swimsuit and meet initially at SSSC to gear up. To register, contact Alex McCarrel at (907) 747-8878 ex. 402 or email amccarrel@sitkascience.org.
Baha’is of Sitka
Celebrate Ridvan
Baha’is of Sitka will celebrate The First Day of Ridván (which means paradise in Arabic) 7 p.m. Thursday, April 20, at 7 p.m. at a Baha’i’s home.
The Ridván festival is 12 days commemorating the beginning of the Baha’i Faith in 1863 where, in a garden surrounded by early believers, Bahá’u’lláh declared that he was a ‘‘manifestation of God.’’
Baha’is celebrate the first, ninth and 12th days of the festival as holy days.
For information or to RSVP, email info@sitkabahai.org or call Tammy at 907-230-5684, or Barbara at 907-623-0802.
Tlingit Culture
Discussion Set
Jan Steinbright will present a program titled “My Journey with Daanawaak: A story of Immersion into the Tlingit Culture” at Sunday’s meeting of the Sitka Unitarian Fellowship.
She will talk about her work with famed tribal leader Austin Hammond of Haines, who fought until the day he died to preserve and pass on the cultural ways of the Sockeye people, protecting the Chilkoot Valley and its significant run of returning sockeye salmon each year.
All are welcome to the gathering at 10:30 a.m. followed by the 10:45 a.m. program.
The Fellowship Hall is located at 408 Marine Street, with parking off Spruce Street.
Easter Bread
Sale Saturday
St. Michael’s Sisterhood will sell Easter bread and possibly other baked goods at noon until sold out on Saturday, April 15, at St. Michael’s Cathedral.
For more information contact Marie Young at 738-4166 or Cheryl Duncan, 738-1676. Those who can donate baked goods are asked to take them to the church before noon.
This Week in Girls on the Run
Sitkans Against Family Violence
For the sixth week of Girls on the Run, participants have been learning about friendship and choosing friends. Participants talked about the characteristics they bring to a friendship and the characteristics they look for in friends.
Through a paired activity where girls were asked to get to know their partner, they came to realize that becoming friends with someone takes time and effort. When thinking about how to choose friends, girls learned about the acronym HEART, which encourages them to find friends who: Help you, Encourage you, Accept you, Respect you, and Treat you with kindness.
This week, the girls’ goals are to tell a really good friend what they appreciate about them and to pay attention to how their friend’s actions fit into the HEART acronym. Teams related this week’s GOTR themes to the Southeast Traditional Tribal Values of “be strong in mind, body, and spirit,” and “patience.”
Throughout this season, GOTR will provide the Sitka community with updates from the program. We also hope to give mentors, parents, and guardians an opportunity to pass on skills from GOTR to the children in their lives.
Here are some conversation starters for talking with kids about emotional health:
–What characteristics do you bring to a friendship?
–What characteristics do you look for in a friend?
–How do you show HEART through your actions in a friendship?
Girls on the Run is an empowerment-based program for girls in third through fifth grade, currently in its 14th season at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School!
GOTR is more than an after-school activity; it is a program designed to bring girls together with strength and resilience and prepare them for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living. Through dynamic, interactive lessons and running games, GOTR prepares girls for a final celebratory 5K Fun Run on May 13 while teaching life skills and unleashing confidence.
Community members are welcome to join in the 5K or be cheerleaders along the course! Girls on the Run is brought to you in Sitka by the Pathways Coalition. Call 747-3493 for more information.
Baranof Carnival
Slated April 22
Baranof Elementary School will host its annual carnival noon-3 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at the school.
It will include face-painting, dunk tank, bouncy house, carnival games, raffles, prizes and concessions including cotton candy.
Entry to the event is $5 and the games are free.
