Volunteer Spotlight: Grace Blouin

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Aug. 12, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer Most people are excellent at a few things or can do well at a lot of things. However, Grace Blouin is not like most people, with seemingly no limit to her excellence. For years upon years, Grace has served at Covenant House Alaska with an unmatched enthusiasm for …

Volunteer Spotlight: Andrew Dahlin

coveyhouseMentor, Volunteer Stories

July 11, 2022 By Sam Buisman, Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer It’s well known that seven is a lucky number, and we at Covenant House Alaska feel both lucky and humbled to have had Andrew Dahlin as a volunteer for the past seven years! As a volunteer for five years and a mentor for the past two, Andrew has given …

What is person-first language, and why do we use it at Covey?

coveyhouseAwareness

May 27, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer Eagle-eyed readers of our blog and social media pages may have noticed that we use the phrase “youth experiencing homelessness” rather than “homeless youth” — what’s up with that? When reading or hearing “youth experiencing homelessness,” it sounds clunky and awkward compared to the sleeker “homeless youth.” It …

Volunteer Spotlight: Heidi and Mike Valantas

coveyhouseVolunteer Stories

May 20, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer One of the greatest perks of Covenant House Alaska is getting to see exceptional people rise up to do exceptional things. But when the husband-and-wife duo Heidi and Mike Valantas come in to volunteer, we get to see not just one, but two of such people! While Heidi …

Volunteer Spotlight Hayley Chronkhite

Volunteer Spotlight: Hayley Cronkhite

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Apr. 20, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer With this month’s Volunteer Spotlight falling within National Volunteer Week, we want to celebrate our volunteer Hayley Cronkhite, who was Covenant House Alaska’s honoree at Anchorage’s Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon.  For over two years, Hayley has opened up the Art Room at our Youth Engagement Center for our youth …

Volunteer Spotlight: Activities with Amelia

coveyhouseVolunteer Stories

Mar. 24, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer Our volunteers breathe joy into Covenant House Alaska, and no one exemplifies this better than Amelia Jeffries, whose weekly activity series remains highly anticipated and thoroughly loved by our youth.  After Amelia moved from Australia and began volunteering at Covenant House Alaska, her weekly “Activities with Amelia” has …

Volunteer Spotlight: Tanna’s Career Journey

coveyhouseVolunteer Stories

Feb. 24, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer Covenant House Alaska is an organization designed to uplift everyone under its roof. This is why many members of our team, like Tanna Lee, have risen from volunteering to working at Covey through our career opportunities.  After volunteering to give back to a nonprofit that once came to …

Volunteer Spotlight Passage House Mentor

Volunteer Spotlight: Mentor Melissa Lampert

coveyhouseMentor, Volunteer Stories

Jan. 25, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer In honor of National Mentoring Month, we want to spotlight the volunteer work of Melissa Lampert, a mentor at Passage House.  Melissa’s mentor work at Covenant House Alaska stands as a testament to the impact a caring adult can have on a young Alaskan. Over her four-year tenure …

How you can improve Alaska’s beleaguered human trafficking laws

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Jan. 21, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer Working to end human trafficking in Alaska is central to our mission at Covenant House Alaska. Yet, this will likely remain an uphill battle for as long as our laws remain in their current state. Alaska’s human trafficking laws fail to address the breadth of trafficking crimes committed …