Haines Donations
Dear Editor: I wanted to make a donation to those in need up in Haines so I reached out to a commercial fisherman customer of mine that lives in Haines and asked for a point of contact for donations.
He provided the following: checks payable to Haines Ministerial Association, C.O. Vincent Hansen, P.O. Box 1667, Haines, AK 99827.
Steven A. Ramp, Sitka
Thanksgiving Dinner
Dear Editor: The Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp 1 and Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 4 were blessed and overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for the annual community Thanksgiving dinner this year. The ANB and ANS heartily thank and acknowledge the donors, volunteers, cooks and food handlers, all of whom working together contributed to 637 Thanksgiving dinners served to our community!
Volunteers in delivery: Elders Bingham, Packer, Hanson and Ritchey, Chip Korngiebel, Phyllis Mulligan, Crystal Duncan, Sean Cavlan, Andrew Roberts, Lisa Killinger, Barb Bingham, Lakota Harden and son, Karen Upcraft, Colleen Dalquist, Liz Marics, Leah Mason, Paulette Moreno, Lisa Hutton, Don Shattuck, Dan Eutalin, Harriet Beleal, ANB Camp 1 President, Nancy Furlow, ANS Camp 4 President, Julie and Loyd Platson, Anna Zauner, and Tami Haynes, with special thanks to Marcia Strand who bagged dinners adding her publication ‘‘Thanksgiving at the Cottages,’’ a Sitka Thanksgiving of yesteryear written by her late husband Martin Strand. Gunalcheesh!
Volunteers in food service: Erikson Fish, Morgan Capobianco, Pam Kristovich, Heather Bauscher, Kayla Moneypenny, Malachi Church, Kate Grumbles, Holland Bool, Anna Laffrey, Coral Pendell, Alyssa Russell, Emily Pound, Leone Clare and Missy Mongiovi, a wonderful group of young adults who worked a beautiful, coordinated spirit of unity and volunteerism. Gunalcheesh!
Due to current regulations in our present circumstances, Our Town Catering provided the delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings and pumpkin pie. We gratefully acknowledge Edith Johnson, Shawn Hutchinson, Troy Mutz, Barbara Palacios, Bianca Hernandez and Brian Finton. We would also thank the Centennial Hall crew who were so helpful throughout: Antonio Rosas, Jennifer Mingo, Kent Gibson, Christian Litten and Fred Moe, Gunalcheesh!
We thank our generous donors who funded and provided donations for the dinner this year: Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Sitka Conservation Society with gratitude for sharing the generous grants from the Alaska Community Foundation in support of local food security initiatives, and Sitka Mutual Aid, with special thanks to SCS Chandler O’Connell for coordinating so much so brilliantly, Harry Race Soda Fountain, Women of the Moose, Keith Nyitray and Sitka Food Coop, Corrine Brown, Sheila Lawson, Liz Howard, Pat Welsh, Mary Soltis, Kenny Winger, Rob Leo and Alaska State Employee Association, Local 52, American Legion, Tom and Linnell Bacon, AC Lakeside, Christine Horan, Loyd and Julie Platson, St. Peter’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Elder Ritchey, Elder Hanson, White’s Pharmacy, the Sitka Woman’s Club, Nancy Yaw Davis, Don Jones, Karen Grussendorf and Cody Nelson, with a special thanks to ANB Liz Marics for her excellent accounting skills. Gunalcheesh!
The ANB ANS Community Christmas Dinner is in the offing, so please do keep that on your radar, as plans develop. The ANB and ANS give heartfelt thanks to all who helped with our annual Thanksgiving dinner.
Make merry in the meanwhile!
Karen Lucas, ANB/ANS
Thanksgiving Dinner Chair
Grant Award
Dear Editor: Sitka Babies and Books would like to thank the Sitka Legacy Foundation for their recent grant award of $2,000. As a non-profit organization, Sitka Babies and Books encourages Sitka children to become lifelong readers by providing books and programs for them, as well as parent education and support during the child’s first three years. Early language and literacy development begins in those first three years of life and is closely linked to a child’s earliest experiences with books and stories.
Babies and Books wants to encourage at-home literacy based on early literacy practices, and to teach children and parents to connect with our public library and its resources.
The awarded funds from the Sitka Legacy Foundation will be used to provide and distribute Grab ’n’ Go bags that will be filled with different supplies, ideas, and directions for projects around a book that is included in the bag. Participants will read new books and complete fun and developmentally appropriate activities.
Lifelong readers are informed readers, and become successful leaders in our community, and we thank the Sitka Legacy Foundation for helping us make this Grab ’n’ Go program available to the children in our community.
Jane Seesz, Board Member,
Sitka Babies and Books
Food Drive
Dear Editor: How amazing is the community of Sitka? AMAZING! Thank you ever so much for the fantastic support for the Salvation Army’s recent food drive. We were so humbly blessed by the generosity of the individuals and families and businesses that gave tangible food and made financial donations. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We were also thrilled that the following businesses help to sponsor the food drive, and we wish to thank them publicly for their kindness: LFS Marine Supplies, Alaska Computer Center, Lyles and Jensen, Harry Race Pharmacy, ALPS FCU, Alaska Commercial Company/Lakeside, Sea Mart/Hames Corporation, and KIFW-The Sound of Sitka and Steven and Fern.
Life is different and difficult due to COVID-19, but God is faithfully good, and this was demonstrated tangibly by the amazing love shared for others through the food drive. Thank you, again! In Christ’s love,
Majors John and Sabrina Tumey,
The Salvation Army
