Throwback Prom
Dear Editor: Brave Heart Volunteers is extremely grateful for the unbelievable support of local Sitka businesses, bands and the community at our first ever Throwback Prom fundraiser. This was a new event planned to specifically raise money for our endowment fund, which was graciously instituted by the Steward family. We have the opportunity to match the $50,000 donation which will ultimately ensure the financial sustainably of the Brave Heart Volunteers mission for years to come.
We are happy to announce the event was a smashing, teased hair-raising success, and we could not have pulled it off without the support of many!
We give particular thanks to the Channel Club for being courteous hosts. Not only did they provide a beautiful space for us to hold the event, their staff made the process an easy, uncomplicated occasion.
To the bands Springfield & Dagger and SlackTide, thank you for musically entertaining our guests and keeping the dance floor jam-packed. Thank you to Adam Howard at Harry Race Photo for capturing the many faces and styles of our prom attendees. Also, we would like to thank Ruth Culp, Bernadette Rasmussen, Toni Caldwell, Jude Reis, Christine Davenport and Cole Cervantes for letting us utilize their baking, artistic, bartending and costume-judging skills.
Finally, we thank each and every Sitkan who attended the Brave Heart Volunteers Throwback Prom fundraiser. By showing up, you are helping us reach our fundraising goals which will allow us to keep providing services and care to our community members who are facing chronic illness, terminal illness, isolation, end-of-life, grief and bereavement. Your enthusiasm and stylish prom attire were memorable and greatly appreciated.
Without the support of our community, Brave Heart Volunteers would not be able to be Brave of Heart. Yee. Gu.aa YÁx X’wÁn. Thank you.
The Staff at Brave Heart Volunteers
Willow Moore, Amanda Taylor,
Jessica Gibson, Pamela Bopp and Tess Giant
Check Dog Gear
Dear Editor: Over the weekend my dog was bitten by a dog after the other dog’s restraint broke. I was walking my dog on a local trail with a friend and her dog. A large group of people with a dog politely stepped aside to let us pass. All the dogs were on leash. Unfortunately the halter on their dog broke and it got loose and attacked my dog. The owner got in and grabbed her dog off of my dog. I checked my dog and she seemed OK, just some fur tufts pulled out. When we arrived at home she had a little bloody spot on her shoulder from where she had indeed been bitten. This isn’t a letter to condemn the other person’s dog or to make them feel guilty. The halter they had on their dog simply failed.
The weather has been very agreeable lately and more people are out walking. It is a great time to check your dog’s gear. There are some great training tools available to help you to have better control over your four-legged friend, dog halters being one of them. If you own a halter, please consider having a secondary back-up attachment that connects the halter to a regular dog collar (some halters come with a collar attachment and some do not.) Be sure that the equipment you are using for your dog is the right size for your dog’s weight and strength. Has your dog grown out of its equipment? Is the gear getting old and/or worn out? Maybe it has been chewed? If your dog leaps away will it break free? this is a general concern for your pet’s safety along busy roads as well as preventing dog bites. Hopefully this letter will help avoid another accident. Happy trails and keep those tails wagging.
Evening Grutter, Sitka
Year-Around Garden
Dear Editor: Oh, we have had dreams of making a garden that could produce almost year-around, that would grow not only the usual mostly greens we can manage but wondrous things like real tomatoes, cucumbers, artichokes. We gardeners have a nagging concern about climate change and the too-cool summers we have been seeing and we dreamt about dealing with change right away.
Of course, we dreamt about bringing another mountain of produce to the Farmers Markets.
We had serious help with our fantasies. The USDA gave us a grant to buy a high tunnel greenhouse. Many kind and skilled gardeners labored in and on the greenhouses. Students from Pacific High came to work regularly, to my delight.
It has come to naught. The greenhouses could not stand up to October gales, took flight actually.
Looking back, I realize I am a silly old lady who can’t cope any more. I should have realized that I had to find a builder with expertise in these tricky buildings. And more importantly, remembered that the enemy in this garden has always been wind, as Jamie Chevalier reminded me. This site is a blow hole, a wind tunnel, in the teeth of Northerlies, prevailing wind, Easterlies and Westerlies, and a cold wind coming down Indian River Valley, in the lee of nothing. No greenhouse can sit here.
What to do? Tell the naked truth and see what might fall out. Good helpers saved all the pieces and they are here. At least one greenhouse can be made now and maybe two. Clever carpenter Micah Maxwell has high tunnel experience and will offer advice.
Now I must tell the USDA folks that there are a few more criteria for them to use when administering their high tunnel greenhouse program. And plan the garden the old-fashioned way, doing starts inside under lights soon.
Judy Johnstone,
Sprucecot Garden, Sitka
Support for Blatchley
Dear Editor: I am once again overwhelmed by the support shown by our wonderful community for our schools. Time and again our community steps up and demonstrates that our schools are a priority.
Along these lines I would like to take a moment and offer a humble “thank you so very much” from the entire Blatchley Middle School student body and staff. The following people and organizations came together to build pull-up bars and removable tetherball courts for our students to enjoy during their recess times. For those of you familiar with the recess “facilities” at BMS you know these were much needed additions. It should be noted that the materials, time and labor were all donated to the school.
Services were donated by: Pellett Enterprise, Kelley and Crysti Pellett, Jensen Yocum, Siemon Rear, and Luke Goddard; and Samantha B Services, Bob Lihou, Wayne Young, Cole Riggs, and Jason Young.
Materials were donated by: Allen Marine, Dave and Lauren Allen, Greg Bartolaba, and the fabrication department for custom tri-level bars and tetherball poles; McGraw Custom Construction, Chuck McGraw Jr. for pea rock; S & S General Contractors, Tyler Eddy and Tim Eddy, and Sitka Ready Mix/Tyler Rental, Darryl Howard and Stacy Mudry for concrete; Rich Krupa, Keet Gooshi Heen, for tetherballs.
And the supporters: Mark Bautista, school maintenance; and Shawn McLeod, city groundskeeper, and the Parks and Rec Committee.
An extra special thank you needs to go out to Leslie Young who originated, organized and implemented the Blatchley Middle School Playground Improvement Project. Without her, none of this would have happened. Again, our sincere thanks to our outstanding community.
Ben White, Principal,
Blatchley Middle School
White E Donation
Dear Editor: Last week Sitka Counseling received a generous donation from the White Elephant. The donations included our Family Center, Harbor Lights, Clinical and Aurora’s Watch programs.
This donation will be used to grow our programs. Family Center has asked for supplies and activities for youths in the spring and summer programs. The Harbor Lights programs will be planning some extra adult client activities and lunches. The Aurora’s Watch program will use their donation for client toiletries, bikes and graduation dinners. The clinical program will be using the funds for client journaling material and transportation.
Sitka Counseling would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to the Sitka White Elephant Shop for their continued support of our agency.
Amy Zanuzoski Executive Director, Sitka Counseling and
Prevention Services
