Hi All, Thank you so much for wanting to help here is a list of ways of how you can help. I copied and pasted it from anonymousbloggers.wordpress.com. OOh By the way, I'm Ann Strongheart from Nunam Iqua ;-)
How to help
If you would like to lend a helping hand to rural Alaskans forced this winter to choose whether to feed their families or heat their homes, there are several ways to help.
We have been working with Ann Strongheart in the village of Nunam Iqua,
AK.nunamiquayouth@yahoo.com
Her village is one of many that need assistance.
First contact your representatives in Congress and tell them we’re watching!
Get the word out
Post links to this blog and others to make people aware of this situaton. We have a flyer you can post in supermarkets, office BBs, etc. There’s a doc file you can edit — you might have to adjust the fonts. There’s also a PDF,if you want to print it as is
Help a community with a monetary donation:
Call SPAN Alaska Sales, toll-free, at 1-800-367-9833. This company specializes in shipping food and supplies to rural Alaska. Ask for Efton, and tell him you would like to make a donation to a Village Aid account. They can take credit card info over the phone. They will mail you a receipt for your payment, with the account name on it, for your tax records.
This whole effort started because of a blog post Ann Strongheart, Food Drive Director/Coordinator in Nunam Iqua, left on a blog we follow. We started an account for her and she is SPAN Alaska’s contact in her village. She orders from the account and distributes food and supplies to the the neediest families. If you would like to make a donation to her village, be sure to specify the Nunam Iqua Village Aid account.
Since we started this effort more struggling villages have come to light. The LA Times ran a story about the Village of Tuluksak and reporter Kim Murphy set up a similar account with contacts she made while in the village.
When other villages out in the Tundra provide a contact/distributor to work with SPAN Alaska, additional accounts like these will be set up. Call Efton at 1-800-367-9833 to make a donation or set up an account for another village.
Donate money for fuel
Emmonak, the village that first came to the local media’s attention as a struggling village, is able to take donations by credit card to earmark for fuel. Other villages, including Nunam Iqua can accept checks for fuel cost donations. We will post more information as it becomes available.
Identify another village
You can also use your rollover minutes and nationwide long distance to call other villages and set up a contact person in a village that is struggling who is willing to step in and serve as a contact/distributor for their village - much like Ann Strongheart is doing for Nunam Iqua.
Donate to the Alaska Federation of Natives
The Alaska Federation of Natives, a very reputable, long established organization in Anchorage has set up a relief fund to help all rural Alaskan Villages suffering from the fuel price and fishing crisis. They have dedicated a bank account that is being used strictly for this situation. If you have questions about the AFN’s program you can speak directly to Gladys Charles, who is co-ordinating the fund collection. Her # in Anchorage is (907) 274-3611. Checks should be made payable to AFN/ Village Relief Fund and mailed to Gladys Charles. AFN. 1577 C st. Suite 300 Anchorage, Alaska 99501
Buy and ship food and supplies
SPAN Alaska
SPAN Alaska is a company based in Washington that specializes in supplying groceries to rural Alaskans, They ship groceries utilizing virtually every method of transportation available including parcel post, bypass mail, airfreight, truck, rail, barge, steamship and UPS. Shipping is included in the price of non-refrigerated items. Their website has an online catalog and an easy shopping cart interface.
www.spanalaskasales.com/pp-home.html
There’ a $100 minimum purchase requirement.
JB Bush
Another less expensive option is JB Bush, a freight expediter based in Anchorage. They don’t have a website so it isn’t as convenient, but you’ll get more for your money with a little extra effort. They purchase and ship anything available at the Anchorage Costco and ship it to rural Alaska for the purchase price + 17% + actual shipping cost.
Order via email to
jbbush@gci.net
JB Bush’s phone numbers in Anchorage are 800-478-7234 or 243-7233 and the fax # is 243-5744.
Fill a box and send it
Pick up a
free flat rate box at the Post Office. The postage on the regular sized box is $10.35, the large is $13.95. Then check Ann’s list of requested basic needs and fill the box.
Whatever you can fit into the box travels all the way to Alaska as domestic mail from anywhere in the United States, at the predetermined cost (between $10.35-$13.95), regardless of weight. The box must close completely or it may be returned to you.
An experiment with flat rate shipping from Houston, TX in January found that goods shipped on Tuesday were in the village of Nunam Iqua the following Friday.
I sent boxes that would have cost of $82 to send from Miami to Alaska. With the flat rate boxes it was $29.20!
Tip:Remove excess packaging and use small flexible items such as individually wrapped non-chocolate candy instead of packing material.
Caution: Flat rate boxes have to close — the flaps must touch.
Ann’s mailing address is
NUNAM IQUA FOOD DRIVE
c/o Ann Strongheart
P.O. Box 7
Nunam Iqua, AK 99666
Ann has updated our original list with the following list of things most urgently needed:
In her words –
Larger diapers size 6
Toilet paper (always!! LOL can never have enough)
Minute rice
Pilot Bread ( Sailor Boy w/unsalted tops)
plain spaghetti noodles (they put them in native soups with the rice)
canned milk (got some of the boxes with the liquid milk and they burst and made a mess in some of the boxes)
coffee (have gotten very little of that)
OOOH I really need plastic grocery bags or trash bags when it comes time to distribute the food we have quickly run out of boxes etc. I reuse whatever boxes the food comes in but distributing the 600 lbs from Emmonak wiped out our box supply.
hmmm wonder if anyone has a contact for getting reusable canvas totes donated?? Then we could just have the families bring them back and reuse them for donations over and over again.
I LOVE that people are sending ziploc bags, they are really used here and they make great packing material to fill up the flat rate boxes when y’all send them.
Never thought about seasonings either, everyone uses A LOT of Lea and Perrins worchestershire sauce out here! Helps cut the gamey flavor of moose etc…
Several moms have mentioned needing Laundry Detergent. I could use ziplocs to divide it up.
OOH course dry/powdered milk.
umm don’t know what else to add, if I think of anything else I’ll post it.
Ann’s original list
Diapers Sizes 1, 3, & 6
Similac Advanced Formula Powder
Canned Evaporated Milk
Dry Powdered Milk
Powdered Eggs
Crackers (Sailor Boy Pilot Bread unsalted tops are the most used here)
Rice (minute rice)
Noodles
Peanut Butter
Honey
Jam
Juice
TOILET PAPER (everyone is running out)
Flour
Sugar
Coffee
Cereal
Crisco
Coffee Creamer
Pancake Mix
Tea
Canned Vegetables
Dried Fruit
Instant Soups
Ramen Noodles
Cup a noodles
Just basic pantry staples. Even salt, pepper, etc.
Also themudflats.net has a link to help:
http://www.themudflats.net/wp-conten...villageaid.pdf
Quyana Cakneq!!
Ann Strongheart
Nunam Iqua Food Drive
c/o Ann Strongheart
P.O. Box 7
Nunam Iqua, AK 99666
nunamiquayouth@yahoo.com
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