Sitka Conservation Society stands with our partners and members to help care for the entire web of life here in the Tongass, our neighbors included. Food security is foundational to the sustainability of our communities, not just in Southeast Alaska but globally. In the Tongass, we have a unique accessibility to wild foods, yet at the same time our geography creates its own obstacles; food is expensive and is shipped in from far away to reach our rural communities. In 2020, due to the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw increased food insecurity among Southeast Alaskans. With partnerships and community support, Sitka Conservation Society fielded multiple programs to help address this challenge.
Notable among these programs, was SCS’s Sitka Mutual Aid Network, an initiative to build Sitka’s resilience and community health in the face of the pandemic. Sitka Mutual Aid matched requests for assistance with offers of support, connecting Sitkans who could be of service to one another and delivering direct food assistance in the form of gift cards, grocery distributions and free meals featuring local seafood. The Sitka Mutual Aid Network is an innovation modeled on a long history of reciprocal community care here in Sitka and worldwide. Because of its flexible and responsive model, we are able to minimize barriers and get assistance to those in need, successfully increasing access to food.
Stories about Sitka Mutual Aid:
-
As pandemic evolves, Sitka Mutual Aid continues to seek solutions
- Alaskans Come Together to Tackle Food Insecurity in Sitka
Sitka Mutual Aid Impact in 2020
