Dear Editor: We’re still glowing after our dinner and dessert auction event on Sunday! I’m excited to report that, due to the amazing generosity of those in attendance, SAFV raised over $8,500 to kick off our 45th Anniversary Membership Drive!
Thank you so much to everyone who came out to support SAFV and to everyone who bid on desserts.
We were all heartened to see this warm Sitka reception after a long hiatus from hosting the event.
This was truly a community effort, and we deeply appreciate all of the many people who jumped in to make it happen. We’d like to give a big thank you to Sheet’ká Salmon Tales, Shee Atiká, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, the Sitka Seafood Producers Cooperative, and Sitka Sound Seafoods for donating the fish for our dinner. Thank you to SEARHC for donating our dinner ingredients (and even delivering them to us!) and thanks to Aramark, AC Lakeside, and SeaMart for supplies.
Thank you to ANB and ANS for hosting us in the historic ANB Founders Hall.
Thank you to all the amazing home bakers and local businesses who generously donated decadent desserts and goodies, including Highliner Coffee Co. and The Backdoor Café — we couldn’t have done this without you! A giant thank you to all our volunteers, especially our cooks: Brian McNitt, Jim Clare, Phil Burdick, Joe D’Arienzo, and Jamaal Floate. A special thank you to Doug Osborne for being our auctioneer and to the students of Outer Coast for volunteering to make the event run smoothly and staying after to clean up.
Additionally, thank you to Martina Kurtzer, Amy Kramer Johnson, Laurie Serka, Jim Clare, Angie Ketah, Linda Behnken, Emily Scott, Steven Rhodes, Norm Pillen, Claire Weber, Brian and Stephanie Weddell, and Lucas Opgenorth.
The dollars raised at Sunday’s event mean that we’re already making progress toward our membership drive goal to raise $50,000 by Giving Tuesday, December 2. We set this goal due to the uncertainty of SAFV’s future funding. With your help, this year’s membership drive will help ensure that SAFV can continue offering services that support victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, as well as programs that work to prevent violence in the first place.
You can join the immense wave of generosity and positive energy that was started by the many Sitkans who showed their support on Sunday night, by going to www.safv.org/donate.
In gratitude,
Emma Bruhl
SAFV Board Chair
