April has been a tragic and trying month for many in Southeast Alaska, but friends and neighbors across the region are helping how they can, whether it’s with encouragement or donations.
Brent and Annette Cole, a Craig couple who create soundboards out of salvaged old growth Tongass wood, and who were featured on the cover of the April 6 Capital City Weekly, were left without a home after a house fire in mid-April. “Their home burnt to the ground… destroying all of their possessions,” said a GoFundMe page established for the couple. Brent Cole was badly burned and was sent to a Seattle hospital. Updates on his fundraising page say he’s doing much better, has been discharged, and hopes to return to Alaska by the end of April.
The GoFundMe page for the Coles is https://www.gofundme.com/5vzxk5gk. As of press time, community members had raised more than $9,000 out of a $20,000 goal.
University of Alaska Southeast associate professor Forest Wagner — who is also a friend — on April 18 was mauled by a brown bear while leading a mountaineering expedition on Mount Emmerich outside of Haines for UAS’ outdoors studies program. Wagner, who was born in Fairbanks and raised in Alaska, has been teaching and coordinating the program since 2006. In the summer, he leads climbs of Denali. He’s at Providence Hospital, in Anchorage, in serious condition. Fellow UAS professor Kevin Maier created a GoFundMe page for Wagner. As of press time, the community had raised more than $22,000 out of a $15,000 goal to help him “cover expenses as he gets back on his feet.” Wagner’s GoFundMe page is https://www.gofundme.com/forestwagner.
I’m not aware of any fundraising that will directly benefit Morgan Enright, the sole survivor of the April 8 Sunrise Aviation plane crash on Admiralty Island, or the families of pilot David Galla and passengers Greg Scheff and Thomas Siekawitch, who died in the crash. Enright’s family, however, has established a CaringBridge page for her, where her mother, Chere Klein, posts updates on her progress. People have also donated to CaringBridge in Enright’s honor, and sent hundreds of encouraging messages as she recovers.
One of the best things about Southeast is the way people pull together to help those they know and those they don’t. The Coles, Wagner and Enright are four of the people that make Southeast the vibrant, artistic, adventurous place it is. I’m glad to live somewhere people are already helping them get back to that.
— Mary Catharine Martin, Capital City Weekly managing editor
