By ARIADNE WILL
Sentinel Staff Writer
After the Sitka School District’s summertime meal program ended May 30, a partnership between Sitka Conservation Society, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Youth Advocates of Sitka, and the Palmer-based nutrition nonprofit Kids Kupboard stepped in to fill gaps in food security.
The drive-up distribution site was changed from the Sitka High parking lot to the parking area at the STA building, 204 Siginaka Way.
“Families come through and they can pick up one bag per child,” said Carly Dennis, who is Future of Alaska Policy Advocate at SCS. “All we have to report is how many bags we give away.”
Distribution days are Tuesdays and Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to noon. Dennis said anyone 18 and under qualifies for a bag, which has breakfasts and lunches until the next distribution day. On Tuesday 177 food bags were picked up at the Siginaka Way site, and another 180 were delivered to recipients, said SCS Community Catalyst Chandler O’Connell.
A separate food program is spearheaded by AC Lakeside. This program distributes produce and dairy boxes free to anyone interested, at multiple locations around town.
Home delivery is available for food from both programs. People interested in additional information about the food services, or about delivery, should email carly@sitkawild.org.
“We want to make this as accessible as possible,” said O’Connell. “We know not everyone can come during this window (of time) or has the ability to get here, so we are happy to offer delivery service.”
O’Connell said delivery takes place with the help of two buses from Island Bus Co.
“The bus is basically filled to the roof,” she said. “We’re getting close to what we can handle, but that’s been a cool edition in the past two weeks.”
The breakfast and lunch program is receives funds with help from Kids Kupboard, which handles the paperwork and administrative side of the food delivery service.
“This program is a reimbursement program that’s run by the USDA,” explained Katie Riley, policy engagement director at SCS. “This means that for the meals we serve, they reimburse us for the cost.”
But Riley said that this is only part of the story, as the Sitka food program partners with other organizations.
“The USDA reimbursement program isn’t that much money, so the Sitka Tribe of Alaska funding, as well as the Sitka Legacy Foundation is helping us to be able to do delivery, hire transportation, pay a competitive wage to our workers and really maximize the value of the program,” she said.
The program has three full-time employees hired through Kids Kupboard, and Youth Advocates of Sitka employs an additional five people to help with the distribution.
Alex Bayne is one of the full-time workers, who helps with the logistics of food preparation and distribution.
“We get the freight in, we bag everything up – we mostly work on one thing as a group – and whatever free time we have, if we have enough left over we’ll do something like (seafood) chowder, which takes some planning and is really fun for us,” Bayne said.
The meal prep takes place at Sweetland Hall on the Sitka Fine Arts Camp campus, where the workers arrive around 4 a. m. on distribution days. The early start provides time for the food bags to be assembled and then bused to the Siginaka Way distribution point.
The past two Fridays, the kitchen staff has made chowder from salmon and other seafood products provided by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association.
“We’re trying to put in more local products,” Dennis said. “I think people are really excited and grateful for the food.”
But it isn’t just recipients who are excited about the program.
Two interested observers on a tour of the Sweeetland Hall kitchen this morning were Mayor Gary Paxton and City Administrator John Leach.
“I think it’s refreshing to see so many community stakeholders coming together with one mission – to help out during the times of need right now,” Leach said. “Extending this as long as possible – especially when the kids aren’t in school – is very impressive.”
Riley agrees.
“The bureaucracy of this program does not encourage one to participate in it,” she said. “We wouldn’t be able to make this happen without literally all the support (in the community) and the support from up north that’s contributing to making this work.”
Members of the Sitka Conservation Society staff Cora Dow, second from left, and Katie Riley stand with Mayor Gary Paxton, left, and Administrator John Leach, right, this morning at Sweetland Hall after giving the city officials a tour of the bag lunch processing operation. (Sentinel Photo by Ariadne Will)
