7,798 pounds of food shipped to St. Lawrence Island

We offer our sincere gratitude to all of the individuals and businesses that have helped us to help alleviate the food crisis on St. Lawrence Island this winter.

Thanks to your generous donations, we were able to ship 7,798 pounds of much-needed food directly to the Island. Every household in Savoonga and Gambell received frozen meat packages right before the holidays. Due to the air freight carrier’s revenue freight during the holidays which took precedence, the remaining food was delivered later which contains rice, flour, and other needed staples.

Thank you to the Food Bank of Alaska Co-op Program, Costco, Express Yourself Expediter, Everts Air Cargo, and to Bering Air for their generous donations of food, expediting, and shipping to St. Lawrence Island.

We would also like to acknowledge the leaders of the communities of Gambell and Savoonga for their guidance and Sivuqaq, Inc. for their generous donation We honor the many individual donors for their support including Caleb Z. Behn of Ratcliff & Company LLP from North Vancouver BC for spearheading a crowd-source funding campaign on Indiegogo.

With your generous donations through Alaska Community Action on Toxics’ St. Lawrence Island Food Crisis fund and the tremendous support of local businesses, here is what we accomplished together:

• purchase of 7,000 lbs of food including dry goods and meat from the Food Bank of Alaska Co-op Program and Costco
• In addition, Costco volunteered to prepare and package the orders for shipping and donated additional frozen meat.
• Costco donated a gift card which we used to purchase bulk candy bags to distribute to the children so that they are able to receive some joy during this time of need at Christmas
• Express Yourself Expediter volunteered to pick up the Costco food order and deliver it to Everts Air Cargo
• Food Bank of Alaska Co-op Program packaged and delivered food to Everts Air
• Everts Air Cargo donated the shipment of food from Anchorage to Nome, they prioritized the frozen meat before the holidays
• Bering Air is donating shipment of the food from Nome to the communities on St. Lawrence Island.

We have been humbled to witness how everything fell in place thanks to all of your support! We have a lot of gratitude that we had this opportunity to help make a difference in this time of need for our families and friends on St. Lawrence Island during the holidays!

Congratulations to the whaling captains who were able to provide traditional food for their villages with two bowhead whales. See the story in Alaska Dispatch.

The economic crisis for the community from the loss of income from walrus ivory and the food crisis as a result of low walrus harvest continues – but due to your generosity we helped feed our families and friends during their time of need!

Igamsiqayugvikamsi – thank you! We wish you a peaceful and joyful year!

Alaska Community Action on Toxics staff & members