GCI sent a strong team to our 2021 Candlelight Vigil and Sleepout event!

Cornerstone Donor Spotlight: GCI

coveyhouse Volunteer Stories

12/17/21

By Sam Buisman — Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer

Every day, Covenant House Alaska is humbled to partner with GCI, who has furthered our mission and bolstered our Alaskan community through its devoted service and charitable giving. 

For well over a decade, GCI has given Covenant House Alaska bountiful gifts of money and time that have proven instrumental to our mission of ending the experience of youth homelessness. The capacity and quality of the services we provide for our young people are reflections of GCI’s generosity in this partnership. 

As GCI Chief Marketing Officer Kate Slyker puts it, our work together brings our community one step closer to guaranteeing every young Alaskan the future they deserve. 

“Every homeless youth has the right to a home and food, guidance and education, and the right to be loved,” said Slyker. “Covenant House offers crucial support in their journey to become healthy, self-sufficient members of our community.” 

Reliable service across Alaska

For GCI, service has been an indelible tenant of its mission across its 42-year history.

The company has invested more than $3 billion into building Alaska’s telecommunications network, connecting people and businesses in well over 200 communities spanning the entirety of our state. Despite the massive range of their coverage, GCI has not sacrificed quality for quantity, as they recently launched the US’s northernmost true standards-based 5G NR service in Anchorage. 

Yet, what service means at GCI extends beyond their formal operations and into a philosophy of giving back to Alaskan communities. In the past five years alone, GCI has given over $10 million in the form of cash, grants, scholarships and products to organizations across Alaska. 

Furthermore, GCI provides each of its employees with 16 hours of paid leave for volunteering. As a result, thousands of GCI employees have been able to give their time and talents to food banks, shelter facilities, youth sports teams and other causes in the communities where they live and work.

GCI and Covenant House Alaska

We are incredibly thankful for GCI’s choice to support Covenant House Alaska with its abundant giving and conviction in our shared mission of ending the experience of youth homelessness. 

“GCI is proud to support all of the life-changing work being done each and every day at Covenant House Alaska,” said GCI Chief Customer Experience Officer Maureen Moore.

As one of our Cornerstone Partners, GCI’s financial support of Covenant House Alaska fuels the fundamentals of our care. From the hot meals we feed our young people to the beds that they sleep in, there is no aspect of our care that GCI’s generosity doesn’t touch. 

Additionally, GCI routinely and enthusiastically participates in our annual fundraising events. We can always count on a strong GCI showing for our Sleep Out. This year’s event certainly wasn’t easy! At negative 15 temperatures and clear skies, GCI team members Roberto Mendez and Blake Pierce spent the night outside, in solidarity with youth experiencing homelessness. Collectively, GCI raised a whopping $14,750. GCI is also a regular attendee at our Fire and Ice Ball and a contributor to the event’s silent auction.

“We are thankful for the support of local businesses, like GCI, in our efforts to shine a light on this crisis and raise funds so we can provide Alaskans with a safe, warm place to sleep,” said Covenant House Alaska CEO Alison Kear. 

Between all of these activities, GCI’s support of Covenant House Alaska is essential to the work we do to empower Alaska’s most vulnerable young people.

“Calling” bingo: GCI’s Adopt-a-Day

At Covenant House Alaska, we provide the necessary services for our young people. In turn, we rely heavily on our community partners and volunteers to facilitate the extracurricular activities that make life more interesting! In December, GCI sponsored an entire day of operations at Covenant House Alaska through our Adopt-a-Day program. But, as always, GCI went above and beyond the call of duty and organized an afternoon of fun activities for our youth!

GCI sponsored a thrilling game of bingo on their Adopt-a-Day!
Thanks to GCI, our youth and staff were treated to Serrano’s for lunch!

First, GCI got Anchorage’s own Serrano’s Mexican Grill to cater lunch. The savory and spicy scents of chicken tacos and pico de gallo wafted through our Youth Engagement Center, proving irresistible to the nostrils. 

Then for some mid-meal entertainment, GCI sponsored a classic game of bingo for our youth! For prizes, GCI provided an array of tech gadgets that are certainly in high demand, such as wireless speakers and earbuds. Our young people held onto every letter and number the caller announced, blotting their sheets with glee!

Thanks to GCI, a snowy Wednesday turned into a winter carnival of games, prizes and food that our youth will never forget. 

Ringing in the holiday season

On top of everything else GCI gives to Covenant House Alaska, they donate to us a warehouse’s worth of tech products to be given as Christmas presents!

Every December, these gifts from GCI make our young people feel loved and treasured during what can be a difficult time for those experiencing homelessness. The joy on the face of a young person unwrapping one of these presents is only rivaled by that in the hearts of our staff.

We won’t give away what is waiting in our youths’ stockings from GCI this year, just in case any of them might be reading, but we are beyond thankful for their gift, and we know our young people will love it!

Thank you, GCI!

What GCI demonstrates is a true devotion to uplifting all Alaskans. We could not be more honored to work alongside them in pursuit of this noble goal. 

If your organization would like to know more about partnering with Covenant House Alaska, please contact Chief Development Officer Joe Hemphill at jhemphill@covenanthouseak.org.

Chef Shawn on her work and Thanksgiving meal plans.

coveyhouse Events

11/25/21

By Covenant House International

In celebration of Thanksgiving, we are featuring a special interview with Ms. Shawn (aka “Boss”), the powerhouse chef supervising the Covenant House Alaska kitchen. 

What drew you to work at Covenant House Alaska?

Shawn: I have a passion for cooking. I worked with an organization feeding adults [experiencing homeless] and when I realized that our youth were at risk, I felt that I needed to do something more for our community. If our youth can get a fresh start at a career or finish school, I like knowing at least they have a warm meal in their belly and they can make it through another day. 

How do you model absolute respect and unconditional love in your kitchen and how do you instill it into the food you prepare for our young people?

Shawn: I model absolute respect by being a role model. I have a tenacious attitude and confidence in what I want for myself. I want to share my passion with others, and I do this by preparing warm comforting meals to feed the soul. I cook with love like my parents taught me, and I want to give back by sharing my talents with the staff and youth here at Covenant House Alaska.

What has changed or stayed the same since the pandemic began?

Shawn: Since the pandemic, we have seen several changes at Covenant House Alaska, and in our kitchen. We no longer have potlucks and we do not have big gatherings. We don’t have volunteers right now and our biggest events were canceled. We must continue to take caution for ourselves and the youth we serve. The one thing that has stayed the same is that we still have to feed the youth and the one thing I will make sure of every single day is that they have a nourishing meal. 

Can you describe a breakthrough moment or share a personal story about a young person whose journey has meant a lot to you?

Shawn: There was a youth that crossed my path at a young age, and I am known to give encouragement to every young person. This youth had a tough upbringing, and I would say to him, “Just stay in school. It will get better.” I did not know the youth’s family history, but I could tell there was trouble in his home. Several years later I ran across this youth again and he greeted me with the usual, “Hey, Ms. Shawn.” He told me he wasn’t living at home anymore and was finishing up school so he could graduate! I replied with, “That’s great to hear, keep up the good work and finish school! I’m proud of you!” With that said, this youth graduated high school, has a child now and is working at a local branch of a bank. I was so surprised to walk in and see that he was my bank teller! I teared up a little because I know my encouraging words meant a lot to this youth. Of course, the first words I said to him were, “I am so proud of you!” 

How does Covenant House Alaska prepare for Thanksgiving to make it feel special for the young people in residence?

Shawn: Covenant House Alaska goes all out for Thanksgiving! My staff and I make sure the youth have a big meal every year with a variety of sweets: cookies, ice cream, and pumpkin pie. We cook mashed potatoes, turkey, and cornbread dressing. We make real deal homemade gravy, ham, green beans, and let’s not forget the cranberry sauce. 

Shawn ended the interview with this message to the community, “We can’t forget the amazing support we receive from donors and corporations throughout our community. Happy Thanksgiving!”

Thank you to our veterans from Covenant House Alaska

Covenant House Alaska Thanks our Veterans

coveyhouse Awareness, Volunteer Stories

Nov. 11, 2021

By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer

In honor of Veterans Day, Covenant House Alaska extends the most gracious of thanks to our country’s veterans and active-duty servicemembers. 

We recognize that our staff, volunteers and Alaska is privileged to include many veterans, and we thank all of them for their service. Their selfless devotion to the protection and improvement of our communities models the value of service to which Covenant House Alaska aspires. 

Many of the veterans involved in our mission, like our Director of Information Technology Patrick Murray, apply their insights on service from the military to their work here.

“Service is doing something that’s not about you,” said Murray, who spent eight years in the US Army. “It’s about doing something for the person to the left and the person to the right.”

So today, and every day, Covenant House Alaska offers its sincerest respect and deepest gratitude to our veterans. 

Recognizing our veteran staff

Our staff is blessed with the talents of multiple veterans whose combined time in the military exceeds 80 years. 

We would like to thank Air Force veteran Nicole Stuemke, Marine Corps veterans Michael Schmidt and Curtis Young, and Army veteran Patrick Murray for their service, along with the many other veterans on our staff who wished to remain anonymous. 

Your contributions to Covenant House Alaska and the wellbeing of our country are indispensable, and you inspire the rest of us to answer our mission’s own call of duty with vigor and tenacity. 

Veteran volunteers

Covenant House Alaska is fortunate to not only have so many veterans on our staff but in our cohort of volunteers as well. 

Our volunteers include at least six veterans, along with two active-duty military personnel and five members of military families. These numbers also most likely underestimate the servicemembers who volunteer at Covenant House Alaska, as we only recently began collecting this data. 

For many of these volunteers, like Air Force veteran Melissa Kitko, their military service is a profound influence on their approach to community service. 

“The military is a gathering of brothers and sisters from different backgrounds reaching for a common goal,” said Kitko, who served from 1993 to 2006. “The mission is critical, but priority is also on the well-being of your wingman or battle buddy. Serving the community provides a similar feeling of mission-ready camaraderie.”

It fills us with incredible pride that so many of our community’s veterans and military personnel choose to spend their time and energy furthering our mission, and we couldn’t be more grateful. We strive to continue our work in a way you deem worthy of your support. 

Thank you for your service!

Once more, to all of the veterans intertwined with Covenant House Alaska’s mission, we thank you for your incredible sacrifice for our country and community. 

Our volunteers are essential in our mission of ending the experience of youth homelessness. If you are interested in volunteering at Covenant House Alaska, please click here for more information. 

Cornerstone Donor Spotlight: Alaska Communications

coveyhouse Impact Updates

11/4/21

By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer

With its history of service to Alaskans outdating the history of our state itself, Covenant House Alaska is proud to partner with and humbled to receive the generous support of Alaska Communications. 

As a long-time supporter, Alaska Communications’ gifts to Covenant House Alaska are foundational to our mission of ending youth homelessness. The fact that our facilities stay lit and heated are testaments to Alaska Communications’ devotion to our local community. 

“We are pleased to partner with Covenant House Alaska as one of their primary supporters,” said Alaska Communications CEO Bill Bishop. “The work they do for the homeless youth of our community is necessary, and their unflagging energy and support for those youth is commendable.”

Connecting Alaskans through work and service

As the leading advanced broadband and managed IT services provider in the state, building reliable connections is the modus operandi of Alaska Communications. Their state-of-the-art data network and undersea fiber-optic system ensure Alaskans can connect with others across our vast state and the lower 48.

Yet, Alaska Communications’ devotion to connectivity extends beyond their formal work. This value defines their company philosophy and motivates their tireless community service.

Thus, Alaska Communications has demonstrated its commitment to the communities where its 560 team members live and work through an outpouring of service projects and gifts. They have donated $425,000 dollars to United Way and over $200,000 dollars in corporate donations and scholarships to the Boys & Girls Club of Alaska.

Alaska Communications’ devotion to responsible corporate citizenship and the future of young Alaskans makes us both proud to work alongside them and humbled that they would choose to extend their benevolence to our organization. 

Alaska Communications and Covenant House Alaska

For over 20 years, Alaska Communications has been an unwavering supporter of Covenant House Alaska.

Aside from their sizable gifts, we rely on Alaska Communications to keep our ever-growing system of care facilities running smoothly. Alaska Communications was integral in the opening of our Rights of Passage program, as they built the communications network that keeps our sites and staff in contact with each other. 

Their employees and executive team have even taken the time to serve as mentors at Covenant House Alaska and participate in our community events. Alaska Communications staff have organized fishing trips for our youth and prepared Thanksgiving dinner for our young mothers at Passage House. 

Alaska Communications team members and CEO Bill Bishop are also regular participants in our annual Sleep Out event. They described it as a moving and eye-opening experience that broadened their perspective on what some Alaskans are living through.

Thank you, Alaska Communications

Overall, Alaska Communications describes it as a community responsibility, and thus a responsibility of businesses inside that community, to ensure the safety of young people. We give them our most profound thanks for their concrete and efficacious actions that live out this philosophy. 

If your organization would like to know more about partnering with Covenant House Alaska, please contact Chief Development Officer Joe Hemphill at jhemphill@covenanthouseak.org. 

We are beyond grateful for the support of Alaska Communications!
Living room at MACK House

Opening of MACK House

Jessica Bowers Events, Impact Updates

This September, we opened the doors of MACK House (Minors Accessing Care & Kindness), our new housing facility designed to serve the specific needs of minors experiencing homelessness. We talked with Executive Director Alison Kear about this exciting new venture.

Executive Director Alison Kear cutting the ribbon with Mildred Mack accompanied by Amy Miller, Carol Gore, and Carlette Mack.
Executive Director Alison Kear cutting the ribbon with Mildred Mack accompanied by Amy Miller, Carol Gore, and Carlette Mack.

Q: Alison, we are all thrilled about MACK House and what it means for the youth we serve. Can you explain MACK House and its impact?

Simply put, MACK House is a safe place for teenagers experiencing homelessness — a safe place for them to take a reset. It is our intention to provide the unconditional love and absolute respect that we are known for but in a home environment versus a traditional shelter experience.

Specifically, this residential property will service up to ten 13 to 18 year olds experiencing homelessness. We will provide three meals a day, snacks, access to educational support, healthcare services and the services of our community partners. It’s going to be staffed 24 hours with people that love young people. And we’re intentionally keeping the size small so that they can get the dedicated attention that they deserve and need. Anyone who has raised teenagers will understand that strategy (smile).

Q: MACK House is specifically for minors. How is having a separate facility for this population going to allow us to serve them better?

A: We have always known that we wanted to create a more home-like experience for the minors who need our support. Prior to MACK House opening, all youth 13 to 24 were receiving services in the same space.

Our teams have managed it extremely well, but as we know, there are large developmental differences between a 13 year old and a 24 year old. This step of bringing minors to their own, residential home is an important piece of the puzzle in nurturing their specific needs while allowing us to expand services for the largest growing population of youth experiencing homeless: young adults 18 to 24.

Our goal is for Anchorage to be the first city to achieve “functional zero,” meaning we are effectively housing youth faster than others become homeless. This doesn’t mean that a young person will never experience homelessness. It In summary, minors have definite and different day-to-day challenges than our older youth. With minors, we are still working closely with families, with schools, and overall a different home structure of homework and navigating teenage angst. Being in their own space is truly a unique position we find ourselves in at Covenant House Alaska, and it’s because of the support of our community.

Q: Last quarter, we discussed the micro-unit groundbreaking, and now we are talking about another new facility, MACK house. Why are you opening these facilities at the same time, is that a part of the plan?

A: When I first started at Covenant House Alaska 25 years ago, the average age that we served was 14. Now, our average age is almost 20. Meaning, we could create a space that was small enough to offer that family-like environment that was still large enough to meet the need for it. This data also tells us that we need more for the largest growing population of homeless youth, ages 18 to 24. By moving minors off the YEC footprint and into their own home, we can construct the micro-units and expand the services for young adults. Simply put, teenagers have different needs than young adults, and now we have gotten to a place in our 33-year history where we can kick our services up a notch with separate facilities. To say this was a long time coming is an understatement. Not only are we thrilled, but so are our youth. They have been telling us for quite some time that this is what they have wanted.

By moving minors into their own home and specializing their care, it has paved the way to offer services like independent living quarters right here on our emergency shelter footprint.

Carlette and Mildred Mack arrive at MACK House.
Carlette and Mildred Mack arrive at MACK House.

Q: Why is it called “MACK House?”

A: “MACK” stands for “Minors Accessing Care and Kindness,” but we chose the name to honor our former staff members Mildred and Carlette Mack, who are a mother-daughter duo with a long Covenant House Alaska legacy. These two amazing women, who were fierce advocates and leaders, embody the values of family and unconditional love. You actually get to see it play out with them.

That’s what the Mack family drove within our organization — they want every young person to feel loved and feel like there’s someone special on their side. No family I’ve ever met other than the Mack family has really been able to demonstrate that through their career or even their own work at Covenant House. That is what will be demonstrated at MACK House, plain and simple. Young people will be loved. Young people will be valued. Young people will know of the Mack story. And also, “MACK” is easy to say.

Q: Could you tell us more about Mildred and Carlette Mack? What is special about them?

A: Oh, wow, you are really going to make me ugly cry here!

Mildred started as a caseworker here at Covenant House Alaska in 1993, and she served our youth with the utmost compassion and devotion. And what I realized when I started

working here is every young person that walked through the front door would call her, “Momma Mack.” That says a lot about her disposition.

Her daughter Carlette followed in her footsteps only two years later, starting as an intern. She worked her way through nearly every job here before becoming our COO in 2012. Carlette left us in 2020 to work with Covenant House International, and we really do miss her, but she’s so deserving of it and we’re all so happy for her.

Those ladies, they are “care and kindness.”

Q: We know that opening MACK House was quite a community effort. Who helped us in funding this project?

A: We had several generous funders from across our community without whom we could not have realized the MACK House mission.

The Municipality of Anchorage, the Richard L. and Diane M. Block Foundation, the Carr Foundation and the Administration for Children & Families Basic Center Program were all essential in funding this project. Their enthusiasm for and demonstrated devotion to empowering Alaska’s most vulnerable young people demonstrates the same value set we aim to embody with MACK House.

And, of course, this could not be possible without the continued support of all of our donors and volunteers. Everyone who sets aside a chunk of their paycheck, be it $100 or $1, to Covenant House Alaska, or spends a weeknight with our youth, or who contributes to our mission in any of the countless ways that they do, shares in this joyous occasion.

Thank you all for enabling us to continue the Macks’ legacy of tenacious service and unflinching compassion.

Jacquii with a Cue on Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Jessica Bowers Awareness

10/11/21

By Jacquii Cue, Covenant House Alaska Ambassador

In celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we’d like to introduce you to one of our Covenant House Alaska ambassadors, Jacquii with a Cue from Kotzebue. We have asked her to share her perspective on Indigenous Peoples’ day because we believe fully in using our platform to spark conversation and spread awareness around our mission to ending youth homelessness. As a fact, more than half the youth at Covenant House Alaska are Alaskan Natives, and it is our duty and honor to shed light on the rich history of Alaska.

It was springtime here in Anchorage and I was on my way to a therapy appointment. Driving down Benson Blvd in a brand-new car, I was feeling the relief of the stability I’ve found in my life. Waiting at the red light to turn left onto A St., I started thinking about other ways to improve my life. Even though it was comfortable, and I’d reached a place with a stronger foundation than I’ve ever had before, somehow it still wasn’t enough. Basically, I was trying to imagine more ways to advance my already lush life. Gratitude wasn’t necessarily at the forefront of my mind, but rather, desire had me wishing for more.

The bright sun was bouncing off what snow was leftover but the roads were dry. It was a beautiful day. I pulled down my visor as I turned to pass Barnes and Noble, stopping again at the corner on Northern Lights Blvd. I was in the lane all the way to the right and somebody caught my eye from the sidewalk next to me. It was my childhood friend who I haven’t seen in nearly 20 years, who moved down here when she was just approaching middle school.

She was wearing a big brown shirt, baggy jeans, white socks, but no shoes. She looked exactly as I remembered her, just older and rougher. I’ve got to be about 10-15 feet away from her and she doesn’t see me. She’s walking out of a tent, squinting one eye, and trying to look for someone further down the street towards Walmart. I’m frozen. It looks like she just woke up and I realize what that means.

The light turns green and I’m shaking, incredibly thankful that it happens to be a therapy appointment that I’m driving to. But also, deep guilty feelings start bubbling up as I try to remember how our paths went separate ways. How did it come to this? We grew up dancing with each other. She was protective like an older sister. Our families weren’t rich, but we shared a lot of love and laughter. We were neighbors and I went to her place all the time. She once beat someone up for trying to pressure me into smoking cigarettes and I never picked up the habit because of it. She was there through my parents’ divorce. The only other time I can think of hearing from her was on my eighteenth birthday, when she called my dad’s landline phone because she remembered not only the date but the number from nearly ten years before.

Ever since moving here to Anchorage five years ago, I’ve tried to make sense of the plethora of Natives experiencing homelessness in this city. It’s something I was never exposed to growing up in Kotzebue. We all take care of our families and loved ones, even when it hurts. How can this community (including me) just drive by my people? I’d wonder. My heart broke as I realized this must be why I confront racism here, too — this exposure and the lack of understanding behind our story. At times, I’ll even internalize this racism. I felt it try to creep in that day, too.

Here in the city, I can’t drive past a corner of familiar relations without thinking of our complex history. What brought them here to the corner tents?

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a time for us to check in with our real truths. The act of renaming it from Columbus Day is doing just that and I wanted to take this time to share some insight for empathy that we can all tap into for these Natives experiencing homelessness. This year, the day comes with a little more weight because of the mass graves of Indigenous children being exposed throughout Canada and the U.S. Although the current official number is reaching nearly 7,000, this is just a small fraction of schools revealing their truth.

It’s not coincidental that at any given time, over half of the youth being served by Covenant House is Alaska Native. It is directly related to this part of history being revealed. I want people to understand this connection as they see my people while they wait for red lights to turn green. Every single Native is experiencing generational trauma which can result in substance abuse, relationship issues, estranged family members, emotional dysfunction and even homelessness.

The only way I can truly share a perspective is to pull from my own story. My great-grandmother was the first in my maternal lineage to grow up with outside contact, back in the early 1900s. Back then, it was Inupiaq custom to be adopted to a stable family if the father isn’t around at birth. My great-grandmother’s father was gone on a long hunting trip for the family when she was born. Once he’d come back to find her, he had to respect that she was already imprinted into her adopted family. It was about the protection and safety of the child. My great-great grandfather accepted this out of pure selflessness. It was tradition. His newborn daughter deserved a structured home.

My grandmother, then, was the first to experience boarding school. The children my great-grandmother gave birth to were brought to Mt. Edgecumbe High School. While many Elders do not have great stories of this time, my Aana (grandma) and her sister speak highly of this period for personal reasons. However, overall, the generation that was sent out of their homes for cultural cleansing raised my mother’s generation differently, and it led to my experience of being maybe the most disconnected Inupiaq generation since contact. The way that I see it, a part of this mission was to interrupt the capabilities of traditional parenting. So, between the ancient ways of maintaining a family structure and the sudden change with residential schools, there are a lot of emotional battles that trickle through these four generations.

For my generation, we are finally taking more control over our narrative and putting more intention into healing this inherited trauma. The idea of recovering from something that started 100 years ago is only just beginning to take root. The Indigenous Peoples that we see on the streets are refugees of a colonial history that happened on their own lands. Many of them were at these boarding schools with the same histories as the ones revealing their mass graves. All of them were shamed for their identities and never learned to properly process that pain. A lot of them were either raised by parents whose skills were disrupted by the relocation efforts, or they were orphaned and adopted out. Every single Native we see in these corner tents now faces deep traumas that don’t even begin with them.

The only big difference between myself and this childhood neighbor I came across at a red light is that I’ve been intentionally going to therapy for a decade now. I don’t really know what made me so lucky to have made it this way because our narratives are not too far off from each other. Maybe, it has to do with my Aana and her sister feeling a different connection to their schooling experience. It might be related to the fact that I was able to stay in Kotzebue until I graduated high school— so my sense of community was different from hers here in the city. It very well could have made an impact on her to see our people in that homelessness light, too. Whereas I didn’t really know or recognize it until moving here to Anchorage in my mid-twenties.

There are many, many explanations as to why our paths went different ways. Each one of them can be linked back to Christopher Columbus and all that had happened since he set foot on Native land. That is why it’s important to shift our focus with the renaming this day and changing our ways of celebration through holidays such as this one. Along with this one, we should be mindful of how we celebrate mascots, the way we dress for Halloween and what we teach children about Thanksgiving.

This is an incredibly complicated time to face as a Native, so I feel grateful that we are reclaiming the meaning behind this early October holiday. I invite non-Natives to think deeply about this story of mine, especially as they pull up to corner tents and see my face reflected at them. I share the same features as them, and I just happen to have gone down a different path. We are still one and the same, and if I deserve any respect and space for empathy, so do they.

I am proud to share that my childhood friend is doing great in recovery. She received help from an auntie and has a stable job that makes her happy. We stay in touch through Facebook now. I was able to remind her of the nickname I used to call her when we were kids, and we felt the love through that exchange.

Above all this history, our people still find faith and hope through the darkness. We believe in better days. I encourage everyone to spend their Indigenous Peoples’ Day learning more beyond my words to decolonize their mind when it comes to our story.

Quyanaq. Thank you for reading a glimpse of who I am and who we are as Indigenous Peoples today.

Jacquii with a Cue is Inupiaq from Kotzebue. She is a writer, graphic designer and publisher of the Native Time Archive magazine, due to launch on October 21 at nativetimeak.com. She runs an online platform under the name Jacquii with a Cue that raises dialogue on cultural knowledge, generational healing and Inupiaq language learning. You can find her on all social media outlets and learn more about her work at jacquiiwithacue.com 

Honoring Audri at Covenant House Alaska on Indigenous Peoples’ Day

coveyhouse Awareness

10/11/21

By Covenant House International

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we are proud to honor our native sisters and brothers working in Covenant House sites across the countries where we operate services for young people facing homelessness.

Audriana “Audri” Foss is from the Dena’ina and Yupik tribes from Pedro Bay, on Lake Iliamna, which is one of five of the smallest villages surrounding the largest North American freshwater lake in the United States. She moved from Seldovia and has been in Anchorage for the past six years.

Skill and Passion

Since 2017, Audri has been working in the Covenant House Alaska kitchen as a cook, prep cook and weekly meal planner since 2017. She also helps with paperwork and training youth interns on knife skills, cleanliness, panning up meals for the next day, and understanding kitchen lingo. Audri makes a lot of soup, which includes “making sure to keep up on chopping veggies,” she says.

Audri really enjoys working with large quantities of food. Ever since she was learning to cook her first egg with her mother at 8 years old, she has had the passion and drive to make food for everyone who needs warm, homemade meals. That led her to work at Covenant House. She said, “Being someone who loves cooking, I thought using my admiration for feeding people would make a great difference for the youth at Covenant House.”

Audri recalls working alone in the kitchen one night and making a large and filling dinner. After the meal, a resident asked her, “You made all this food by yourself?” Audri’s response was, “If you find a job you are passionate about, any job can feel easy and enjoyable. Just gotta find your passion.” She adds that it helps to “find that if others appreciate the work you do, then you’ve made it. But don’t stop, keep learning and growing and making yourself better!” Audri hopes these words encourage the young people at Covenant House Alaska to find jobs they love. When they specifically show an interest in cooking, Audri always encourages them and says, “If I can make enough food to feed 60-80 people, you can make it happen for your future.”

Continual Connection

Last year, Audri was crowned the Fur Rondy Heritage Ambassador. Rondy is a 10-day winter festival celebrating life in Alaska through winter sports, Alaska Native arts and cultural events, and family activities. Audri wore her regalia, including a sash and headdress, for everyone at Covenant House to see, and even though the community was extra proud that day, they often remind Audri how much she is loved and respected for all that she does in support of our mission every single day.

When asked how it makes her feel to see the Covenant House community celebrate and honor Native American peoples and commemorate their histories and cultures on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Audri said, “I do appreciate having people learn and understand our culture and history through food and dance, or storytelling. Working in the kitchen I’ve always gotten excited to make my delicious homemade fry bread that I’ve been making all my life. Cooking for me is my way of telling my story, the experience and the techniques I’ve learned from those I’ve worked with before, or from those who share the same passion as mine.”

Audri’s passion for sharing her culture has definitely infused its way into the food she prepares for our youth. She says, “smelling the aromas that you create brings people together. Making happiness through cuisine has been a tradition for me all my life, including cooking food at potlucks in the village, for celebrations, or for the loss of a family member. Making food to share with everyone is a way to show love and compassion for others. And to share the food I can make for people is a tradition I’ll always keep close to my heart.”

Covenant House Alaska's Fight Against Human Trafficking

Covenant House Alaska’s Fight Against Human Trafficking

coveyhouse Awareness

10/1/21

By Sam Buisman — Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer

Every day at Covenant House Alaska, we serve young people who are enduring or are susceptible to exploitation. 

With nearly three in 10 of the youth we serve having experienced some form of human trafficking, combatting this incomparable evil is a tenant of our programming at Covenant House Alaska. Our efforts inside our facilities and outside on the streets work to empower young people to retake control of their lives and end their trafficking experience. 

According to Associate Program Coordinator Eileen Wright, the core of what we offer youth undergoing trafficking is simple, yet lifesaving. 

“Sometimes I think of all those things that these youth have been through, and I always wonder to myself, what is it that keeps them moving forward?” said Wright. “And it is hope. Covenant House provides hope. That’s what we do. We’re in the business of hope.” 

Human Trafficking in Alaska

The first thing to understand about human trafficking in the US and Alaska is that no one truly understands the full extent of the problem.

Human trafficking is drastically underreported in the US due to the hidden nature of the crime, incomplete data and difficulty in reaching trafficked persons. Accordingly, most researchers who study this issue believe that their data underestimate the scope of this issue.

With this caveat in mind, the Global Slavery Index estimates the number of people in the US currently experiencing sex or labor trafficking to be around 403,000 people.

Additionally, other figures suggest that the prevalence of human trafficking in the US may be on the rise; the National Human Trafficking Hotline saw a 19% increase in usage from 2018 to 2019.  

Similarly, the annual number of trafficking cases in Alaska reported to the hotline has risen by 60% from 2015 to 2019, with a peak of 19 cases in 2018.

These figures do not conclusively prove that trafficking is on an uptick — they may only indicate an increase in the use of the hotline. Yet, they demonstrate that human trafficking is a real and dire issue in our community.

What Human Trafficking Looks and Doesn’t Look Like in Alaska

The Department of Justice defines human trafficking as “ a crime that involves exploiting a person for labor, services, or commercial sex.” However, what human trafficking looks like in practice can differ from state to state.

As Trafficking Program Coordinator Heather Hagelberger is quick to mention, Alaska faces a distinctive and misunderstood human trafficking situation.

“It’s not what Hollywood depicts it as,” said Hagelberger. “It’s not a lot like what is even seen in the lower 48.”

The sensationalized abductions of movies like “Taken,” where a stranger kidnaps someone who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, is a rarity in Alaska. So is the gang-related trafficking that accounts for a sizable proportion of the issue in the lower 48. 

According to Hagelberger, trafficking situations in Alaska mostly involve a trafficker manipulating a family member or someone whom they know well to fulfill a certain need. This could be a need of the trafficker in particular or of the entire family, such as keeping the lights or heat on. 

This dynamic can make it difficult for someone to recognize that they are being trafficked while giving them a perverse sense of pride in upholding a familial responsibility. 

“They don’t see the coercion,” said Hagelberger, “especially if it’s your mom, your uncle, your grandfather, and it’s for the family. Like, ‘This is just what we do to get by and take care of things.’”

These traffickers often exploit an individual’s pre-existing trauma, which they may be privy to as a family member or close friend, to push them into such a situation.

However, Hagelberger cautions against locking these commonalities into a singular archetype for trafficking in Alaska and letting common red flags metastasize into stereotypes, as this can rob one of the vigilance necessary to spot a trafficking situation. 

“Somebody could be failing in school or showing up in clothing that’s inappropriate for the weather — sure, those are things that draw people’s attention immediately,” said Hagelberger. “But that’s just a broad generalization. A person could have straight A’s in school and a good friend group and still be sexually assaulted every night by somebody because of their trafficker.”

In a sense, trafficking in Alaska has not one look but many individual looks, each resembling a unique case with a unique person in a unique situation. 

Trafficking and Homelessness

Battling human trafficking is a key initiative for Covenant House Alaska because young people who are experiencing homelessness are favored targets for human traffickers.

For a young person, the experience of homelessness almost always means a struggle to fulfill the most basic of human needs. Traffickers can prey on these circumstances to gain control over them. 

“It doesn’t even have to happen quickly,” said Wright. “They could just be like, ‘Hey, I have a couch you can sleep on,’ and one day turns into a week, which turns into, ‘Hey, you now owe me for this place that I’ve let you stay.’” 

Our best data, a 2016 Loyola University study, indicates that nearly 30% of the youth at Covenant House Alaska’s shelter have experienced some form of human trafficking. This was the second-highest rate of trafficking among the 10 Covenant House locations across the US and Canada included in the study.

Human trafficking is a problem endemic not only to the population we serve but to the community we are in as well. Resultantly, working towards its resolution is a cornerstone of our mission at Covenant House Alaska. 

Street Outreach Team

At Covenant House Alaska, our Street Outreach team acts as our first responders to human trafficking. 

This mobile team finds and travels to youth living on the street and is often our first point of contact with individuals being trafficked. Its members come equipped to provide such youth with food, warm clothing on the spot and help them access medical care, working to build relationships with these young people and direct them to our other services. 

According to Wright, the ability to reach out to young people instead of waiting for them to come to our facilities is a boon to our anti-trafficking efforts. 

“If they are engaging in something that isn’t allowed at the shelter, that doesn’t have to be a barrier to meeting with them,” said Wright. “Removing that barrier in itself can just create a relationship, and that relationship is the beginning to healing.” 

Meeting these youth where they are, both physically and emotionally, can be essential in breaking the mental bindings of trafficking.

“When you are in the midst of a trafficking situation, you feel like you have no worth, that no one’s ever gonna care about you again,” said Hagelberger. “We work to tear that down. It’s accepting right where you are.”

Fighting Trafficking via Youth Empowerment

Our larger programming at Covenant House Alaska combats trafficking through empowering young people. Unconditionally offering them the basic needs for human survival prevents traffickers from leveraging those needs against them, allowing a young person to decide to leave a trafficking situation.

“Our role really is just to show them what they have inside of them: the capability to walk away from a situation,” said Wright. “And if they want our help, we can help them.”

With our Youth Engagement Center, Charlie Elder House, MACK House and Right of Passage programs all offering different populations of young people access to shelter, food, healthcare, employment and education services and much more, we can always be available for any young person who decides they want a helping hand. 

“Our only goal here is to be a group of people, an organization, who is there unconditionally,” said Hagelberger, “because they don’t have anyone else in their life who’s going to do that for them.”

The key aspect of this relationship with our young people is choice. Empowerment is not possible if we are forcing our youth to make certain decisions or meet certain conditions to receive our services. It does not make any sense to attempt to end a situation in which a young person’s autonomy is restricted by restricting it in a different way. 

“They know what they need for their lives. They are the expert for themselves,” said Hagelberger. “So if I come in and say, ‘No, this is what you should be doing,’ that’s totally disregarding their own ability and agency to understand what they need for themselves.”

Unconditional service for those who choose to receive it. This mantra guides our anti-trafficking efforts at Covenant House Alaska, and so much more of what we do. 

Anchorage is in This Together

We at Covenant House Alaska do all we can to mitigate human trafficking in our state, but there is a role for every one of its citizens to play as well.

Hagelberger stressed that despite how overwhelming this problem may seem, it is more than possible for one person or a small group to make a difference. 

“Get a group together, learn, educate yourself,” said Hagelberger. “Be situationally aware, and then know who to contact.”

According to Wright, donations of money or time, large or small, can make a huge difference in a young person’s life. 

“Sometimes, people think it needs to be these broad acts, and it doesn’t,” said Wright.

By supporting Covenant House Alaska, you tell a vulnerable young person that they matter.

If you would like to make your own difference by contributing to Covenant House Alaska’s anti-trafficking mission, you can donate here or sign up to volunteer here.

Summer Volunteer Activities Roundup

coveyhouse Our Youth, Volunteer Stories

9/22/21

By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer

We’ve all noticed it. The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting colder, the snow is creeping down from the mountains and into our backyards — summer is over, and the fall is here!

With summer coming to an official close, we wanted to highlight all the amazing adventures our young people were able to experience because of our generous donors and mentor volunteers. For a lot of our youth, the outdoors represent the treacherous living conditions and trauma of the streets that they are fighting to overcome. But because of our supporters, they were able to enjoy the Alaskan summer how it is intended to be. 

Stretching from the heights of Palmer to the gorges of the Kenai Mountains, our young people and volunteers covered a lot of ground. So, we want to break down our summer month-by-month and celebrate the activities we fit into each one. 

But, before we can do that, we need to extend the most gracious of thank yous to our mentors and volunteers. None of this would be possible without them and their unconditional love for our youth. Thank you for giving these young Alaskans joy and memories. 

April

Our summer had the perfect kick-off with a barbeque at Balto Seppala Park! The combination of our mentors, a smorgasbord of summer meats and a ripping-hot grill added up to a classic April evening for our youth. Nothing says “welcome back, summer!” quite like sticky barbecue sauce smeared across a smiling face.

One of our mentors works the grill at our April BBQ.

May

As temperatures climbed higher, so did we, with a hike up Turnagain Arm! Our volunteers guided our youth up all of the 1538 feet of elevation gain on this 5.4-mile trail. While the views were fantastic, it was edged out by the looks of accomplishment and awe in the eyes of our young mountaineers. 

And since April’s barbecue was such a smash hit, we kept the party going with another barbecue in May! Our grillmaster mentors again fired up the grills and piled plates high, this time right on the grounds of our Passage House facility. While prized leftovers only lingered for a couple of days, the shared memories of such a treat will last a lifetime. 

Another summer BBQ was a big hit with our youth!

June

With summer in full swing, our volunteers made sure our young people got the chance to visit a true Anchorage institution: the Alaska Zoo. Our youth encountered leopards, tigers and bears (oh my!) as they trekked through the wooded zoo trails. 

The Alaska Zoo was almost more fun than we could “bear!”

For a more low-key activity, our volunteers helped our young people explore their creative sides with an afternoon of rock painting. Colors danced from brush tip to igneous canvas as our youth connected with both nature and art. The bedazzling final products now adorn Passage House, bringing a little more brightness to its rooms and hallways for our moms and babies. 

July

There is perhaps no time better than a long July day to play a few holes at Peters Creek Disc Golf Course! Our mentors took our youth up to the Chugiak course where they let drives fly like they were taking off from Ted Stevens Airport. Through 18 holes of fun, our volunteers showed our young people a great day on the links. 

Our volunteers also arranged a truly special evening for our young people: dinner at the Alaska Botanical Gardens. Our youth dined on locally-grown food while learning about its history from some of the foremost experts on Alaskan botany. The evening was a unique blend of culture and cuisine that no one involved will forget. 

Delicious food and fantastic culture came together for our youth at the Alaska Botanical Gardens.

August 

It wouldn’t be an Alaskan August without a trip to the State Fair! Thanks to a generous ticket donation from our longtime partner GCI, we were able to treat our young people to a day of wild rides, live shows and food on a stick. With the help of our volunteers and GCI, our youth were able to partake in this cherished state tradition.

One of our staff watched this trip become a bonding experience among a group of young women. After one of our young women ran into her old skating coach, she shared that she grew up competing in horseback riding events and figure skating. The group then continued to open up to one another, allowing them to settle into each other’s company and the joy of the day.

“I’m so happy she is happy,” one young woman remarked about one of her peers. “I haven’t seen her happy in a long time!” 

We also partnered with the Anchorage Police Department for what we called a “Hike With a Cop!” A bit of rain could not deter Officer Brenden Lee, who led our young people down the iconic, 11-mile Powerline Pass trail. A special thanks to Officer Lee and the APD for giving our youth such a wonderful and informative afternoon!

Our youth and mentors took Polaroid photos of their hike with Officer Lee.

Lastly, before the summer closed out, our volunteers had to make sure our youth could pay another visit to our furry friends at the Alaska Zoo. Say what you will, but laying eyes on a Bactrian camel never gets old!

Our youth returned to the Alaska Zoo at the end of the summer.

End-of-Summer Camping Trip

For our last hurrah of the summer, we took our young people on a camping and fishing trip on the Kenai Peninsula. This multi-day adventure let our youth enjoy the natural wonders of our state and would not have been possible without the talents and treasure of our mentors and multiple community partners. 

Our youth and mentors stayed in comfortable cabins and yurts provided by the Alaska Huts Association at a generously discounted rate and the cabin of our wonderful donor Christie Hudson, all nestled in the shadow of the Kenai Mountains. 

Alaska Pacific University was kind enough to give us a sizable discount on our rentals of camping necessities, including backpacks, sleeping bags and the all-important bear spray.

Our youth hike their way to the campsite.
Our youth saw beautiful Alaskan vistas on their camping trip.

After a 5:00 A.M. wake-up call, our campers embarked on the Kenai River to fish for silver salmon. The good folks at Trophy Drifters and Alaska Boat Rental each provided us with boats and expert guides for our trip. Thanks to them, it seemed like our youth couldn’t stop pulling fish out of the water!

Thanks to Southcentral Foundation, with the support of the SAMSHA GLS grant, we were able to purchase fishing licenses and gear for our youth. Our young people were able to engage and learn healthy coping skills with our message of hope, resilience and connection to culture.

With our fresh catches in hand, Tanner Berube of Jolly Wally’s Seafood then cleaned, filleted and vacuum-sealed our salmon for us. Even though you could see through the wrapping, these fillets were no less of a present for our youth. 

Finally, the foundation of this entire trip was our mentors Kristen, Lance and Andrew. These three spent most or the entirety of their weekends to give our youth a weekend unlike any other. 

Once again, we would like to give a massive thanks to all of our community partners and mentors who worked together to give our youth a weekend that most people in the lower 48 would be willing to travel to Alaska for. We, and our young people, will never forget your generosity. 

Our youth working together to build a fire at the campsite.

Onto Fall

The leaves may be changing, but one thing certainly will remain the same: Covenant House Alaska, in partnership with our volunteers and donors, will continue to organize invigorating outings for our youth that connect them with our state and local community. 

Our volunteers and community partners have always been essential in enabling us to provide our youth the adventures they deserve. If you would like more information about being a mentor at Covenant House Alaska, please click here. If you are interested in forging a community partnership with us, please contact us. 

This Day in Covenant House History: Remembering Sister Mary Rose

coveyhouse Covenant House History

Sister Mary Rose’s tenure as Covenant House director remains foundational to the capacity of our organization today. Photo: Covenant House Vancouver.

9/13/21

By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer

Today marks the ninth anniversary of the passing of Sister Mary Rose McGeady, whose leadership allowed Covenant House to flourish internationally as it entered the 21st century. 

Sister Mary Rose served as Covenant House’s second director from 1990 to 2003. Taking the reins amidst a period of upheaval and plummeting donations, she revitalized Covenant House and guided the organization into a golden age of international growth.

Born in 1928, Mary Rose quickly found and heeded her life’s calling. She attended Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul’s Immaculate Conception Academy and joined the cloth in 1946. 

After graduating from Emmanuel College with a sociology degree in 1955, she worked with various child-care nonprofits before and while continuing her education at Fordham University, achieving her master’s in clinical psychology in 1961. Across the next few decades, she hopped between East Coast charities before rising to an executive position with the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. 

Then, in 1990, Mary Rose was chosen to lead Covenant House. At the time, the organization was hemorrhaging money, with annual donations dropping by nearly half over the past year. 

Mary Rose not only reversed Covenant House’s downward spiral but ushered in a period of dramatic growth that proved definitive to the organization Covenant House is today. During her tenure as director, she more than tripled our annual donations and oversaw the opening of 11 new Covenant House sites, including Covenant House Alaska. 

An innovative thinker, she also took steps to adapt Covenant House’s outreach to the changing technology of the new millennium by rolling out our 24-hour crisis hotline, “the Nineline.” 

At the time of her retirement in 2003, Covenant House was steadily rising in donations and operating in 22 cities across North and Central America. 

Today, Covenant House is active in 31 cities across six countries and has served over 1 million children. It is impossible that we would have been able to reach these heights without the industriousness and courageousness of Mary Rose. 

Sister Mary Rose died in 2012, but her legacy lives on within the doors of every Covenant House and in the smiles on the faces of kids who come through them. We are eternally proud of and grateful for her service, and we hope that she would feel the same way about ours.