Announcements

Sep11

Serve Alaska joins AmeriCorps and 911 Day to commemorate September 11th terrorist attacks

Aug17

Serve Alaska Awarded in AmeriCorps Funding to Organizations Across Alaska

DAYS OF SERVICE

Join us this year on Monday January 16, 2023 for the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service -  a defining moment each year when Americans across the country volunteer to make local communities more equitable, underpin racial equity, expand civic opportunities, foster respect for individual differences and take action to create the Beloved Community of Dr. King’s dream. 

Join AmeriCorps members and Alaska residents as we step up to serve our communities across the State of Alaska.  Take action and part in this opportunity to join hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country in volunteer service. 

Day of Service Projects—AmeriCorps members in Alaska in partnership with local organizations and tribal groups will commemorate MLK Day with the following projects:

• Alaska Public Defender Agency Social Advocate AmeriCorps Members Ensuring Justice (SAME)—
  • Fairbanks members, Tommy and Liv, will organize, prepare and execute a warm clothing drive to benefit those community members in need. The drive will be advertised on flyers and announced at the monthly Fairbanks Reentry Coalition meeting. Some of the donated items will be added to the Fairbanks PDA clothing closet for their clients in need and the rest will be given to the individuals in need at the Bread Line. In addition to that, AmeriCorps members will help serve breakfast from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the Bread Line and are inviting community members to come volunteer – volunteers please contact Tommy Sigman at (907) 458-6786. More info at  https://www.idealist.org/en/volunteer-opportunity/05347025b3ca4f259d145a105e997933-mlk-day-winter-clothing-drive-breakfast-service-alaska-public-defender-agency-fairbanks
  • Palmer members will be conducting a winter gear drive to benefit children served by My Grandma's House (MGH), a nonprofit organization in Alaska who's mission is to reduce child abuse/neglect in an effort to address our state's suicide epidemic. They will be collecting winter hats and neck gators for kids from 1/9/23 to 1/13/23. Volunteers will be needed in Palmer to help collect donated items, sort, package, and prep for shipping. Possible volunteer needed in Fairbanks as well to coordinate transfer of collected items to a My Grandma's House representative in Fairbanks. More info at  https://www.idealist.org/en/volunteer-opportunity/3508bea49f134757bce0fa9a7bbbcf78-mlk-day-drive-winter-gear-for-kids-alaska-public-defender-agency-palmer
  • Anchorage members will be serving at Anchorage's Downtown Soup Kitchen Hope Center on MLK Day, on January 16 ^th, from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Join and participate in meal prep and service for those in need and some light cleaning around the facility. Up to 5 volunteers are needed. More info at https://www.idealist.org/en/volunteer-opportunity/fe0dde1b165d437ab4a95df5042a035d-mlk-day-at-the-hope-center-alaska-public-defender-agency-anchorage
  • Media is not welcome to cover any of these events due to confidentiality of the community members being served.
    
• United Way of Southeast Alaska Juneau AmeriCorps Program—AmeriCorps members in Juneau will plan, prepare, and serve lunch at the Glory Hall Emergency Shelter in collaboration with the Southeast Alaska Foodbank for approximately 70 people. Members will also plan, prepare, gather, and distribute donated toiletry items received from the drive which the Glory Hall and its patrons will benefit from. The efforts by the AmeriCorps members will help to address the hunger and homeless needs in the community. Media is welcome to cover this service project.
• Sitka School District AmeriCorps Program— Sitka AmeriCorps members will be hosting a volunteer appreciation event for those generous souls who volunteer with Brave Heart, offering end of life care and so much more. Brave Heart Volunteers is a non-profit, community-based organization offering respite and hospice-like services, grief education and support, case-management/goal development programs, companionship visiting, and caregiver education. They provide free care and support to individuals and families facing health challenges such as terminal or chronic illness, frailty, dementia, disabilities, hospitalization, or end of life. For MLK Day celebration, Sitka AmeriCorps Program met in December and created handmade cards for volunteers to be shared on the day of the event. On the day, Sitka AmeriCorps members will cook two hearty soups and make crusty bread to be served at a luncheon for volunteers of Brave Heart. AmeriCorps members and Brave Heart volunteers will be given the opportunity to design their own heart quilt square which will be sewn into a quilt and donated to Brave Heart to hang at the Manager’s house. The main goal is to use the MLK day spirit to celebrate our volunteers who make Sitka the community we love so well. Media is welcome to cover this project.
• RurAL CAP Resilient Alaska Youth (RAY) —RAY members serve in many different communities and on January 16th for MLK day of service they will take action on a variety of service projects that each member is designing to meet a specific need in their community. Some of the planned activities include: community art project in Haines, preparing and delivering food for elders in Mentasta, collecting trash from homes that don’t have transportation in Nanwalek, distribute clothing and food donations in the community in Stebbins, organizing a community celebration in Pilot Station. Members will partner with their host organizations such as local tribes, schools, or city governments in order to plan the events.
• Residential Youth Care INC. Ketchikan Afterschool Program—Members will organize the community clean-up of a beach front area on Saturday January 21 ^st, at 2417 Tongass Ave along the waterfront from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Members will have an opportunity to share their experience and learn more about the Ketchikan community.  Media is welcome to cover this event.

9/11 Day is a chance to reinvigorate the unity that swept the nation in the aftermath of 9/11, while paying tribute with acts of service to those lost on September 11, 2001, heroic first responders and the countless others who serve to defend the nation’s freedom at home and around the globe.

• Sitka AmeriCorps members in partnership with the Sitka Fire Department, will be hosting a public servants’ “Walk Across O’Connell Bridge” for all firefighters, first responders, EMT’s, police and USCG staff. The walk will be inaugurated with a speech, and recognition of the fallen, followed by a moment of silence.  As a display of remembrance, they will have a list of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives along the bridge. Sitka AmeriCorps will then host a small reception for participants.
• RurAL CAP Resilient Alaska Youth AmeriCorps members will be volunteering at Stickleback farm and the garden at Airport Heights Elementary, in the Anchorage area.
• Residential Youth Care INC. Ketchikan Afterschool members will be serving at a local homeless shelter to assist in the effort to reorganize their kitchen. This will allow for better food service and storage of donations. 
• United Way of Southeast Alaska AmeriCorps members in Juneau will volunteer to clean-up a Rotary Park including the 9/11 memorial in preparation for the 9/11 memorial service. They will also bake goods to deliver to community first responders in Juneau after the ceremony.
• Alaska Public Defender Agency AmeriCorps members will execute projects in different parts of the state where members are serving, these are:
  • Anchorage members are partnering with The Web for job interview workshops & a barbecue event to serve community members in need.  The event will take place on 9/9 from 10am-5pm at The Web on Gambell St. 
  • Fairbanks members are partnering with local elementary school classes to write thank-you cards and delivering those cards to first responders and soliciting donations from local restaurants and coffee shops to provide a thank-you breakfast for the Fairbanks Fire Department.

Revised 09/15/2022