Helping the People of Emmonak
Villagers in the Native American fishing village of Emmonak are in need of help: they need food and money for heating oil to make it through the winter after an especially bad fishing season. It makes me want to cry.
The good news is that some donations may already be on the way. The bad news is that everyone may think that Emmonak has received all of the help it needs, when there are around 800 people in this village who are used to taking care of themselves and are unused to turning to the state for aid.
Complicating this issue is that Governor Sarah Palin (whom we all just KNOW cares SO MUCH about the Native populations and the environment /sarcasm) has no rural advisor at this time and was probably unaware of the problem, since the last rural advisor resigned some time in October.
There’s more local coverage of the crisis from an Alaskan-oriented blog here, and if you want to make a contribution of funds or food, here are the contact addresses:
Emmonak Tribal Council
P.O. Box 126
Emmanok, AK 99581
(907) 949-1720
or
City of Emmonak, (907) 949-1227/1249 (They will take donations by credit card.
Please specify the donation is for heating oil!)
It’s always good to remember that just when you think you’ve hit hard times, you can still be grateful that things aren’t even worse.
Unfortunately, that usually means they are worse somewhere else, which is where your moral conscience comes into play. Please donate if you can afford to, even just a tiny amount will help. Thank you.
