Gallery Walk, Caring is Sharing, Mudrooms and United Way
• On behalf of the Downtown Business Association, we thank the community for joining us in downtown for the annual Gallery Walk event. The event was a wonderful success and the Juneau community helped to make that happen. It is our mission to make downtown a gathering place for everyone in the community, and it is evenings like Gallery Walk that demonstrates how great it is to have a vibrant downtown core.
A special thank you to: our 150 members for hosting and entertaining guests; the Juneau community for supporting this event; the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council for collaborating with us on the new Gallery Walk map; Travel Juneau for hosting guests at the Visitor Center; IBEW 1547 Juneau for helping us set up Front Street with tents and lights; Juneau Tours & Whale Watch for providing a free downtown circulator for everyone to easily maneuver through downtown; Capital Copy for donating the Gallery Walk maps and trolley signs; Juneau Police Department for helping us close Front Street; CBJ Parks & Rec for facilitating easier parking downtown; Chatham Electric and Corvus Designs for hanging lights in the Shoppers Plaza; Daniel Glidman and Goldstein Properties for hanging lights across Second Street; DJ Manu for the fun holiday tunes on Front Street; all Front Street vendors; all Front Street entertainers; all Juneau media for spreading the word; and the Juneau Economic Development Council for the tents and its ongoing support
Dana Herndon,
On behalf of the Downtown Business Association Board of Directors
• The Southeast Alaska Food Bank would like to thank the small army of volunteers who helped us collect food at Super Bear IGA and Foodland IGA during the Juneau Radio Center’s annual “Caring is Sharing” food drive on Nov. 16.
We’d like to thank the following people for helping us at Super Bear IGA: Karen Wright, John Gucker, Tami Brown, Dallas Breaux, Jessie Gharrett, Tony Gharrett, Brandon Woody, Kevin Apolinar, Andrew Peterson, Jasmine Gallatin, John Flood, Ken Hill, Natalie McPhillips, Marie Ahrens, Mara Jennings, Elaine Hopson, Dave Stephenson, Ryan Lee, Curtis Lee, Tim Lee, Tom Olsen, Lance Stevens, Allen Rose, Catherine Ackerman, Wesley Shutt, Jaime Zeuhnber, Alanna Zeuhnber, Maralie Zeuhnber, Riley Sikes, Eli Douglas, Samantha Church, Faith Kellar, Alex Wehe, Ben Mitchell, Kollin Molihan, George Schaaf, Mukhya Kaur Khalsa, and Navtej Kaur Garcia.
We’d also like to thank the following volunteers for helping us collect food at Foodland IGA: Kevin Hansen, Chloie Watson, LeighAnn Ussery, Lucas Crane, Dustin DeLong, Robert Fetter, Joseph Zeh, Keanen Jensen, Alina Renz, Inaki Ansoccaga, Leslie Holzman, Ela Nehemann, Erin Bogert, Teresa Gamble, Shauna Murray, Catherine Sayre, Elder Chapman, Elder Aboc, Elder Paskett, and Elder Frankin.
Additionally, we’d like to thank the following volunteers for coming to the food bank on Saturday, Nov. 17 to help us unload and sort the two school buses full of food that was collected at Super Bear IGA during the “Caring is Sharing” food drive:
Al Holzman, Leslie Holzman, Roge Jennsan, Sean Suarrara, Cael Brown, Ken Brown, Landon Guthrie, Jarret Sahr, Chessa Veasey-Sanders, Jessica Sutton, Justinian Sutton, Bristol Casperson, Robert Casperson, Caitlynn Rich, Kylee Clauder, Taryn Wright, Ruth Wright, Marylee Schmidt, Brennan Rivest, Benjamin Zukas, Robert Zukas, Eric Dobson, Matt Dobson, Bob Zukas, Sven Rasmussen, Hannah Capau, Anne-Alese Rentrop, George Baker, Jared Baker, and Laurie Gardner.
Because these volunteers so selflessly gave up a portion of their Friday and Saturday, the Southeast Alaska Food Bank was able to collect, sort, and stock our warehouse with more than 25,400 pounds of food to help feed your friends, neighbors, coworkers and even family members who sometimes struggle to provide food for themselves and their families.
Thank you again to everyone who helped to make this year’s “Caring is Sharing” food drive the huge success that it was. Together, we can end hunger in Southeast Alaska.
Darren Adams
Manager, Southeast Alaska Food Bank
• Mudrooms is a community storytelling event that occurs monthly at Northern Light United Church. All proceeds collected at the door go to a local nonprofit agency and this fall the recipient of those funds has been Family Promise of Juneau. Family Promise serves children and their families who are experiencing homelessness. Shelter, meals and comprehensive services are provided to help families achieve self-sufficiency. This important work is made possible through the generosity of local faith communities and a small army of volunteers.
Family Promise is most grateful to the Mudrooms Story Board for selecting us as one of its donation recipients. The four events were successful due, in part, to the generous contributions from Travis Smith and the cookie bakers at the Rookery, Marc Wheeler for Coppa coffee, Northern Light United Church for their hospitality, and KTOO for conversation about the events on A Juneau Afternoon. A very special thanks to the musicians and the storytellers who share pieces of their lives with the friends and neighbors who gather to listen.
Mudrooms is a wonderful community event, and Family Promise is thankful to have been a part.
Pat McLear,
FPJ Board Secretary
• United Way held the Day of Caring this year on Sept. 28. I would like to thank Dave Evans, April Evans, Morgan Pipkin and Marisa McConnell for coming out to Helping Hands and for the wonderful job they did for us stocking our shelves. Thank you.
Betty Kaplor,
Director of Helping Hands
• On Dec. 8, the Juneau community joined AWARE to celebrate the accomplishment of students participating in the Girls on the Run and Boys Run I Toowú Klatseen programs. Fifty-seven girls and 27 boys participated in the programs this season. The 5K was the culmination of 10 weeks of lessons, and teaches kids that they can accomplish big challenges with hard work and determination.
Girls on the Run and Boys Run I Toowú Klatseen are empowerment programs for 3rd-8th grade girls and 3rd-5th grade boys. I Toowú Klatseen means “strengthen your spirit” in Tlingit and is AWARE’s after-school program helping to build “strength of spirit” for boys. Both programs are part of our efforts to end violence, and work by instilling protective factors in kids, such as healthy habits, self-confidence, and healthy relationship skills.
AWARE deeply thanks our fantastic volunteer coaches, who spent hours every week this fall teaching these crucial life skills to our young people. We congratulate our participants and parents for their hard work throughout the season and for completing the 5K event. We thank our 5K planning committee and volunteers, our 5K sponsors Heritage Coffee, Breeze In and Safeway for providing us with snacks and coffee, and the Salt Cave, Nugget Alaskan Outfitters, JRC The Alaska Club and Pavitt Health & Fitness for providing coach gifts. We extend our gratitude to Rainforest Pediatrics, Northern Light United Church and the City and Borough of Juneau for your continued financial support of Girls on the Run. Girls on the Run in Juneau is partially funded by the citizens of the City and Borough of Juneau through sales tax revenues. Thanks to the generosity of these sponsors, we are able to bring these wonderful programs to youth across Juneau, regardless of ability to pay. Please consider signing up and volunteering for the programs next spring! Visit GOTRGreaterAlaska.org and BoysRun.org for more info and to sign up.
Kirk Burke,
Local Coordinator for Girls on the Run and Boys Run | toowu klatseen
