BBBS Menoring
Dear Editor: January marks the 14th annual National Mentoring Month. In addition, Gov. Bill Walker recently signed a proclamation designating the month of January as Mentoring Month in Alaska. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sitka would like to invite the community to join us in celebrating mentors and volunteers.
Our goal is to expand quality mentoring opportunities and connect more of our community’s young people with caring adults. As we focus on engaging more community members in volunteering as mentors, we will share a simple message: ‘‘Be Someone Who Matters to Someone Who Matters.’’ Mentoring relationships are basic human connections that let a young person know that they matter, and mentors frequently report back that their relationships make them feel like someone who matters in another person’s life.
Two important dates are coming up, including Jan. 15, 2015: “Thank Your Mentor Day” when we encourage anyone who has had a mentor to say thank you by sending a note, a card or sharing a story on social media using #SomeoneWhoMatters. The second important date is Jan. 19, 2015: the “Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service,” when our nation will shine a spotlight on volunteerism and inspire people seeking service opportunities to learn more about mentoring.
As Gov. Walker’s proclamation stated, “Mentors often wear many hats – serving as friends, role models, teachers, and sources of stability and support.”
I would like to offer my thanks to the many Sitkans that are making profound differences in the lives of young people in our community. I would also like to recognize the individuals who have volunteered as “Bigs” in our program during the past year including Mindy Bartolaba, Dale Grant, Ralph Junker, Jessica Holland, Kelly Ferguson, Casey Orona, Maggie Gallin, Jacqueline Fernandez, Karoline Bekeris, James Swift, Julie Smith, Ben White, Julieanne Stroemer, Pamela Ash and new volunteers, Joseph Conover, Dana Ahlin, Carmel Easley and Ryan Haug. This list feels lengthy, but the number of youths on the “wait list” to receive a mentor remains twice as long as the list of available volunteers. Big Brothers are especially needed. The best part is that no special expertise is required to make a real difference in the life of a child.
On behalf of our “Bigs” and “Littles,” I would like to thank Venneburg Insurance, Harris Air and the Sitka Emblem Club 142 for recent donations to our local program. Their support helps make it possible to continue providing this much needed service to the community.
To learn more about the role mentoring plays in our community and to find volunteer or sponsorship opportunities, please call me at 747-3500 or by email at Kealoha.Harmon@bbbsak.org.
Kealoha Harmon,
Community Director-Sitka,
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska
FAI Conference
Dear Editor: I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to First Alaskans Institute for hosting a conference, FAI: Progress for the Next 10,000 Years, Dec. 8 and 9 in Fairbanks for “community doers.”
From the invitation letter I received, “Through a statewide nominations process, FAI was able to begin identifying those in our communities who get things done, who go above and beyond, usually because they see a need and act without being asked, often behind the scenes or with little recognition, to keep our communities moving forward. We call these people ‘community doers’ and you have been identified as one of these important people!”
It was truly an honor and a memorable experience. I met like-minded people in Alaska doing things for others, which allowed us to build a network of workers, healers and traditional ways of well-being for our communities and families.
I would also like to congratulate Harriet Beleal and Andy Roberts for also being officially selected to participate at the conference, in total about 130 attended – including two special guests, Bentham Ohia and Kate Cherrington both from New Zealand.
On behalf of me and my family, Ana Baasee’, Nt’oyaxsism, Gunalchéesh, Haw.aa, Qaĝaasskung, Quyana, Quyanaq, thank you for all that you do, First Alaskans Institute! I am grateful to be a part of such a powerful, intelligent and caring group of people.
Tom Gamble, Sitka
School Funding
Dear Editor: This is to inform the public of the formation of a new organization to promote new local school funding, the School Funding Action Committee.
Funding for schools has become increasingly restricted. Traditional funding efforts, such as bake sales, candy apple sales, and so on, have temporarily rewarded the hard work of students, teachers and parents. The benefits from these fund-raising efforts are short term. New funds dedicated to the schools are needed.
Meetings should be organized to plan dedicated and steady funding sources and to bring the plans to the Assembly for action. If you would like to contribute your insights in advance of the announcement of the dates and places for meetings, please give us your thoughts.
For now, our group is called School Funding Action Committee, a volunteer community-based organizing team open to everybody. We are in the earliest stages. Please contribute your ideas. Contact John Welsh, welshmx@yahoo.com. Please state your permission to add you to an email list. You also can add your thoughts to the thread in the public service announcement classifieds on Sitka.com at http://forum.sitka.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=49080
Meetings can take a toll on families and on working folk, so we may be able to build a plan by email, and meet for the first time at Centennial Hall, when we submit the plan to the Assembly. There already is support in the Assembly for hearing our ideas, without as yet actually endorsing them. The folks already working on this have no pre-set limits on ideas. We are sure there are many paths to improved local funding for schools that we have not thought about.
Some new sources of school funding, such as those included below as examples, will require changes in Sitka’s tax laws. We will have to pull together to get this done.
1. Funding Needs of the schools: a. Activities Programs under-funded; 2. Funding Ideas: a. Increase Sales Tax, dedicated to schools and b. Create an excise tax on sales of marijuana, dedicated to schools.
Thank you for your ideas and your work to share them.
John Welsh, Sitka
Parent of Three SSD students
