Earth Week
Dear Editor: On behalf of Sitka Conservation Society, I want to thank the Sitka community for a wonderful Earth Week celebration. We hung up “Bear Aware” door hangers in the Indian River neighborhood, went on a nature journaling hike with 4-H youth, made animal masks with the residents of the Pioneers Home and students at Keet elementary, and hosted a kids’ Eco-Challenge at Sitka National Historical Park with 18 fearless youth participants.
The highlight of Earth Week was the 16th Annual Parade of the Species, hosted in partnership with the Sitka Sound Science Center. A huge thank you to Kristina Tirman for helping coordinate this event, and all the staff at the Science Center for a fantastic post-parade Earth Day extravaganza. Another thank you to Marian Allen, who spearheaded the “March for Science” component of the parade, reminding us of the importance of science to the health of all species. Over 160 Sitkans came out dressed as creatures to march and celebrate the beautiful Earth we live in.
These Earth Week events would not be possible without the support from community partners. A big thank you to Hames Corporation/SeaMart for feeding hungry parade marchers; Sitka Salmon Shares, Old Harbor Books, and Backdoor Cafe for donating costume contest prizes; Sitka Electric Vehicle Group, Fortress of the Bear, Alaska Raptor Center, Jessie’s Sno-Cones and Cotton Candy, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Citizens Climate Lobby, Cooperative Extension, and Bags for Change for hosting a booth each at the Earth Day Celebration; Sitka Sentinel, KCAW, James Poulson, and Charles Bingham for promoting Earth Week events; and to Julie Fitzsimmons and Claire Sanchez at Keet Elementary for encouraging students to dress up.
Sitka Gymnastics for donating proceeds from their Earth Day performance to Sitka Conservation Society.
May we continue to celebrate and enjoy the Tongass in this Spring season.
Julia Tawney
Sitka Conservation Society
Community Playground
Dear Editor: We are so very grateful for all the individuals, businesses and organizations that have donated to the Sitka Community Playground since last fall. We appreciate each and every individual donation we have received, from $5 donations to $5,000 donations from a total of 108 individuals. We would like to say a special thank you to those individuals who donated over $500: Lorraine Inez Lil, Maricruz Vega, Kjersti Koshinen, Dean and Dorothy Orbison, Sue Fleming and Gus Adams. And a special thank you to those individuals who donated $1,000 or more: Julie and Tim Doggett, Cindy Edwards and Brant Brantman, Roger and Mary Hames, Barbara Hames, M.W. Laguire, Nick Scales, and Bob and Kim Hunter.
We appreciate all the organizations who have chosen the Sitka Community Playground for a donation: Rotary, Elks, Mt. Verstovia Masonic Lodge, Sitka Woman’s Club, SEARHC, Sitka Health Summit, Sitka Emblem Club 142, STA Social Services, the White Elephant, the Greater Sitka Legacy Fund (AK Community Foundation), the Katharyn Elizabeth Fell Demaree Fund, Alaska State Employees Association, Local 52, City of Sitka, and Sitka Community Hospital.
We want to thank the 25 businesses who have donated so generously to the playground. These businesses include White’s Pharmacy, Petro One, Sea Mart, Lularoe, Horan and Company, Sitka Vision Clinic, ALPS Federal Credit Union, Davis Realty, Pfizer Foundation Marching Gifts Foundation, F/V Coral Lee, Harris Aircraft Services, Foreign Automotive, Fisherman’s Quay, Price Street Storage LLC, Ben Franklin, Alaska Communications, Wells Fargo Foundation, Alaska Airlines and APL Limited. A special thank you to Venneberg Insurance and to First Bank for their $5,000 donations. Seacon, Troy’s Excavation, Mike Jacoby and Schmidt Construction have already stepped up to offer their in-kind help with the site preparation. By the time the community-built playground is ready and open for the kids to play, this list will grow much longer.
We also want to thank all those that have supported our fundraisers over the past few months, whether it was by attending or donating or making something for the fundraiser. The organizers of these fundraisers include Gretchen Stockel, Lois Verbaan, Emily Routen, Lularoe Sitka, Beth Short-Rhoads, Mt. Verstovia Masonic Lodge, Amber Hulon. We thank them for their time and dedication to the project.
We have currently raised $91,948 locally toward our $100,000 goal and are still accepting donations of any amount. Any individual, business, or organizations who donates $500 or more will be recognized with their name engraved on a halibut or salmon plaque and incorporated into the design of the project. All donations and the community support help tremendously to leverage our large grants.
Thank you again, Sitka! We truly feel your love and support to make the Sitka Community Playground a reality!
Sitka Community Playground
Committee Members
Hospital Needs
Dear Editor: I’m a ‘‘glass half full’’ person. Thank God. I wholeheartedly applaud Deanne Bennet’s recent letter to the editor.
We need Sitka Community Hospital and the Native people need SEARHC. Actually, we all need them both. I’ve spent almost all of my 87-plus years in Sitka. (I was born in Cordova.)
Sitka has something more precious in our world than gold: Water! We are keeping Sitka a viable place to live, work and play and to find the best way to share our water.
Should we do as John Stein suggests and ship it out frozen? He would caution us to guard the quality. The Russians didn’t have to consider that.
Pauline Fredrickson
National BikeMonth
Dear Editor, Help Sitka Celebrate National Bike Month.
Bicycles are amazing machines and they are extremely efficient. Cycling Science author Max Glaskin explains “Put a person on a bicycle and they become the most efficient creature on Earth. No other living thing can expend so little energy for so much self powered travel.” On a bicycle a person can travel three times faster than walking, for the same amount of energy. All this efficiency really pays off financially. The American Automobile Association 2015 Driving Costs Study estimates that car ownership in the U.S. costs $8,698 a year, Bikes on the other hand are only a small fraction of that price.
Cycling is great for your heart, it’s a low impact activity and it can be very fun. It’s no wonder that bicycles are the most popular form of transportation on our planet -- there are about a billion bicycles in the world, which is twice the number of cars. In Sitka residents report bicycling to work at more than eight times the national average.
May is National Bike Month, and in Sitka we will be celebrating along with communities all over the country. Every Saturday in May there will be a bike related activity:
At 11 a.m. on May 6 a family friendly community ride from Totem Square to the entrance of Sitka National Historical Park on back.
The Sitka Bike Rodeo and Bike Swap is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 13 at the Coast Guard Hangar.
The Julie Hughes Triathlon is on May 20, followed by the Sitka Trail Works Cross Trail guided bike ride at 9 a.m. on May 27.
In addition, the National Bike to Work Week Contest is set for May 15-19. Cyclists enter their rides at Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop and are entered to win a $100 gift certificate to the shop.
Hope you can join us as we celebrate and enjoy these amazing machines, which have been seen in Sitka since May of 1891.
Bill Foster, Charles Bingham, Anthony Treas. Doug Osborne M.A.
Sitka Community Hospital
Director of Health Promotion
