Aid to Alaskan Villagers- Advice Needed (Anchorage, Butte: fit in, credit card, house)

[silviodante2]

Dear Alaskans,

I have visited your beautiful state on a number of occasions, and feel a deep love for the state. I was saddened to read of the plight of rural Alaskans today on CNN, and wanted to know what I could do to help.

Since I am in the lower-48, I wanted to see if any Alaskans had any ideas about what aid agencies are the best up there for sending food boxes, etc. to those in need in the Bush. My google searches have proven fruitless. I may be wrong, but I think that sending money to agencies within Alaska would be far more efficient than food drives down here.

Thank you and God Bless!

[aurorawatcher]

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 (http://www.themudflats.net/wp-content/uploads/emmonakvillageaid.pdf - broken link)

Quyana Cakneq!!

Ann Strongheart

Nunam Iqua Food Drive
c/o Ann Strongheart
P.O. Box 7
Nunam Iqua, AK 99666
nunamiquayouth@yahoo.com

[blueflames50]

just read this on The Mudflats and thought I'd share...good to see that getting the word out is working

[CENTER]http://www.themudflats.net/wp-content/uploads/nunam_iq-300x214.gif (broken link)[/CENTER]
I’m receiving regular updates from Ann Strongheart, our Mudflatter and Food Drive coordinator in the small village of Nunam Iqua (formerly Sheldon Point) which is relatively close to Emmonak, and several other small communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region in Western Alaska.
Here’s the latest news from Ann.

UPDATE from Nunam Iqua!!
Wow, y’all are definitely keeping my muscles strong! We received nearly 130 pounds of food donations today! There were 10 boxes today! As I was unpacking those, I saw the airline agent take three sled loads of boxes to the Post Office, of course they had already closed for the day but I am hoping that they were either for the food drive, or maybe even better, boxes directly to the “adopted” needy families here from individuals/families that are sending them boxes from all over.
Here is where today’s boxes came from:
1 box from St. Mary’s, West Virginia (had to look twice at that because we have a St. Mary’s here in Alaska too. LOL)
1 box from Houston , Texas
1 box from Medford , Massachusetts (Wow! Individual cups of coffee with cream and sugar built right in!)
2 boxes from Fairfax , Virginia
1 box from Alexandria , Virginia
1 box from San Diego , California
1 box from Anchorage , Alaska (Quyana JB)
1 box from Juneau , Alaska (Quyana Martha UnAK)
And 1 box from Albany , Oregon ( Mountain House Freeze Dried Goods)
I sorted and distributed them to 11 families. Everyone was so happy! I took the time to explain to them how to use the individual cups of coffee packets. Several couldn’t believe that the coffee had sugar and creamer built right in. One woman, who works at the school, said that they would be perfect to take to work, then she could just pour one in a cup and add hot water and not have to worry about the coffee pot being empty!
I did as the sender requested, and took a few of the coffee packets home and tried them. Wow, they were really good! Really strong, hearty coffee, although I did have to add more creamer because I use lots of creamer in my coffee, but they were really good!
Also everyone was amazed at the HUGE cans (large coffee can size) of freeze dried items. There were 12 cans in all including scrambled eggs with butter, seafood chowder, rice and chicken, spaghetti with meat sauce, instant white rice, beef stroganoff, noodles and chicken, wild rice pilaf and macaroni and cheese. Best of all they had directions on how to make just single servings or smaller portions!
Additionally, there were lots of seasonings in one of the boxes, and all kinds of other GREAT foods in all the boxes.
Quyana Cakneq (thank you very much) for all of your help!!! It helps me sleep better at night knowing that families and kids are going to bed with full tummies. And parents are able to wake up and have a cup of coffee! LOL!
Let’s see …what else is going on here in Nunam Iqua? Well, it’s very cold again; this morning when I got up it was 22 degrees below zero. Had to really bundle up when I went to the Post Office to pick up the boxes. My neck warmer/facemask was trying to freeze to my face. But boy did I work up a sweat carrying all of those boxes. It had warmed up to -13 when I went across, and I couldn’t believe that toting the boxes around could keep me that warm!
Oh my goodness, there are snowdrifts here that are just outrageous. More like snow MOUNTAINS. Some of them are over 15-20 feet high, but I did learn my lesson and scoped out the trails before I went to deliver boxes today!! Hubby was off today, so I was doing it during the day and not at night like last time. But now the drifts are high enough that we can go right over the water/sewer lines that they are building.
My poor 4-wheeler looks like an expensive frozen paperweight/popsicle right now. There is a 6 foot high drift pretty much surrounding it.
There is some big news brewing from a possible huge donor, but I don’t want to give too much away yet, until we get some stuff worked out and then I’ll let y’all know more. Supposedly Jon Moller, the new Rural Advisor, hired by Sarah Palin, is coming here either today or Thursday. I’ll let you know how that goes, assuming I get to meet him or hear anything.
Well, I think that’s all for today. My dish water is boiling so I am off to do dishes. Before I forget, I am working on another story about Native foods and what we traditionally eat here. Hope to have it done by the end of the week.
Quyana caneq again to everyone! I know I’ve said it before, but I must say it again. If it weren’t for everyone here on Mudflats and Anonymousbloggers and various other websites, my community/village wouldn’t be getting the help we need!
Quyana, quyana, quyana!
Ann Strongheart
Nunam Iqua Food Drive
If you would like to help, or need more information please click HERE (http://anonymousbloggers.wordpress.com/how-to-help/ - broken link).
And don’t forget Ugashik and Pilot Point, the two villages I adopted and am helping them get a food drive going. Click HERE for details.