{"id":58390,"date":"2020-02-12T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/shelf-help-locals-send-food-to-southeast-communities-without-ferry-service\/"},"modified":"2020-02-19T13:06:53","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T22:06:53","slug":"shelf-help-locals-send-food-to-southeast-communities-without-ferry-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/shelf-help-locals-send-food-to-southeast-communities-without-ferry-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Shelf-help: Locals send food to Southeast communities without ferry service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t<p>Grocery store shelves in some Southeast Alaska communities have been empty lately.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>With reduced ferry service because of budget cuts to the Alaska Marine Highway System, shipments of groceries to communities like Angoon have been rarer than usual.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been running out,&rdquo; said City of Angoon Mayor Joshua Bowen in a phone interview Thursday. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had empty shelves. I&rsquo;m sure everyone&rsquo;s seen all the Facebook photos and all that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fchenara.kookesh%2Fposts%2F10207462490397912&#038;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"648\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe> <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Bowen said a landing craft was expected Thursday to bring both food and equipment to fix a broken ramp that would prevent ferries from docking in Angoon even if they were currently running to the Admiralty Island village. He said it&rsquo;s hoped the ramp will be quickly fixed, but that won&rsquo;t bring immediate change.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have any ferries anyway until <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dot.alaska.gov\/oars\/reservations\/CalendarFM.amhsf?selectMonth=March+2020&#038;selectPort=Angoon&#038;selectVessel=All+Vessels&#038;action=Get+Schedule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 5,<\/a>&rdquo; Bowen said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p><ins>[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/southeast-communities-feel-the-hurt-with-no-ferry-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Southeast communities feel the hurt with no ferry service<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Stepping up to help<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>In the meantime, work is underway to provide help from Juneau.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Debra Gerrish, a Juneau resident who heard about the need of smaller Southeast communities from a woman who goes to her Douglas Community United Methodist Church, said in a phone interview she is attempting to organize food shipments to Angoon, Kake and Hoonah.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Gerrish said she made shipments last week and wants to continue the effort.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;I felt very happy inside,&rdquo; Gerrish said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know these people, but I know their life is going to &#0010;be better.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>She said anyone interested in supporting the effort could call her at 789-3236, and if they&rsquo;re unable to donate money to shipping food to other communities, Juneau&rsquo;s food pantries need donations, too.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAlaskansforAl%2Fposts%2F125870148943135&#038;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"684\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Gerrish said she&rsquo;s opted to work with Salvation Army outposts and send food to them since they have a physical presence in communities and can tell her what foodstuffs are needed. So far, shipping has cost about $450 and food cost about $1,000.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Catherine Dooley, a Lieutenant with the Salvation Army in Kake, said it&rsquo;s the first time in 18 months she&rsquo;s seen food shipped their way.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;What I&rsquo;ve seen is a lot more people have come for food help this year than last year,&rdquo; Dooley said. &ldquo;We are in general OK, except people are having a harder time this year.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>John Quinn, a Major with the Salvation Army in Angoon, said the lack of ferry service is negative, but in his estimation food scarcity is about the same as &ldquo;a bad fish year.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;This is the new reality,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;And while I and the community appreciate the donations of food supplies that come in, we can&rsquo;t ever forget that we have a store here and a business, and we have to support it too, or we don&rsquo;t have a store. Now, we know what the reality is. The ferry is not anything we can count on in any way, shape or form.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;In the meantime, people are flying back and forth when the weather allows and picking up what they can too to stretch everything,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Super Bear<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Gerrish said for her next round of shipments, she is collaborating with the local Salvation Army to come up with a fundraising model that will allow for transparent handling of funds, and with Super Bear Super Market IGA to ship food to places in need.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-attachment in-story\"><a href='https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Ben Hohenstatt | Juneau Empire                                 Super Bear will be collecting donations to ship food to Southeast Alaska communities impacted by a lack of ferry service.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20555714_web1_P2-Ferries-JUE-200214_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1199px) 98vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"p-exclude\">Ben Hohenstatt | Juneau Empire \n                                Super Bear will be collecting donations to ship food to Southeast Alaska communities impacted by a lack of ferry service.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<p>J.P.Oudekerk, store assistant for Super Bear, said in a phone interview he happened to be the person checking out Gerrish during one of her previous large grocery runs, and he wanted to help out with the project.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a whole lot of help for those guys out there getting food,&rdquo; Oudekerk said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>He said Super Bear would likely be able to help Gerrish find good deals on non-perishables and shipping. Gerrish said she previously shipped via Alaska Seaplanes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just working our best to get her the best deal that we can,&rdquo; Oudekerk said. &ldquo;It would be much cheaper if they had the ferries going, but we can&rsquo;t count on that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>He also said Super Bear will be offering special donation boxes to benefit the communities. Shoppers will be able to fill out slips to make $10 donations. Oudekerk said if someone makes a $10 donation, the goal is for Super Bear to provide about $15 worth of groceries.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Gerrish did not have exact dates for when she hoped to enact her plans, but Oudekerk said donation boxes would be inside Super Bear starting Friday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Quinn said while the generosity is appreciated, Angoon will ultimately be OK. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>&ldquo;Angoon will survive,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a community that&rsquo;s survived bombardments, it&rsquo;s survived weather, it&rsquo;s survived for thousands of years.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p><ins>[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/setting-it-right-military-could-apologize-for-bombarding-alaska-native-villages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Military could apologize for bombarding Alaska Native villages]<\/a><\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p><em>&#8226; Contact reporter Ben Hohenstatt at (907)523-2243 or <\/em><a href=\"mailto:bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com\"><em>bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com<\/em><\/a><em>. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lack of ferry service means lack of food for Southeast communities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":58391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":11,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-58390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home2","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58390"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=58390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}