Hello Friends

This season, many of us are thinking about our holiday traditions. For me: Alaska cranberry bread, cheese balls, and stockings. The Guesses love a good stocking stuffer. As we can scan shelves or scroll online, searching for just the right item, what if we also considered where our dollars go, and who they support? Yes, shop local. And many businesses around the state make it possible for us to support our nonprofits when we shop. 

Across Alaska, many shops are on double duty. They generate essential revenue for nonprofit programs while offering shoppers, diners, and donors a way to support community-based work. 

I’ve been reflecting on the creativity and care behind these efforts. Whether it’s a warm coffee from a cafe that funds safe spaces for at-risk youth or a cozy sweater from a thrift store supporting survivors, each purchase is a gift and small act of community building. 

Take the Tundra Women’s Coalition Thrift Store in Bethel. Proceeds from this storefront help sustain emergency shelter and advocacy services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Or The Goods Sustainable Grocery in Soldotna. The store’s Everybody Eats program encourages customers to purchase a hot meal for a neighbor with their weekly shopping. In Craig, on Prince of Wales Island, The POWER Thrift Store invests its profits into distributing food boxes and emergency aid to families in need. 

Want to take a break? At Motley Crew Bakery, a program of Bean’s Cafe in Anchorage, all proceeds contribute to feeding, housing, and clothing the café’s Streets to Success program participants. In turn, Streets to Success, a free, voluntary program, provides the bakery with employees. When in Mat-Su, get caffeinated at Gathering Grounds Café in Wasilla’s MY House, which supports and trains young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. 

Back to shopping. Stop by FashionPact in Anchorage, a thrift boutique where your purchase is reinvested into a local organization of your choice. Or Anchorage re:MADE, which gives new life to old items and provides job training for people navigating life transitions. In Mat-Su, turn-A-leaf Thrift Store uses its proceeds to support a household and medical equipment loan program. Further north, you can catch The Door’s monthly “garage sale,” an effort of Fairbanks Youth Advocacy that benefits at-risk youth. 

Looking for new or gently used furniture, home decor, or building supplies? The Habitat Anchorage ReStore sells all of these, and proceeds help build and preserve Habitat for Humanity homes.  

Shopping online? Visit Calypso Farm in Ester, Alaska, for handmade goods, herbs, or seeds and support the organization’s hands-on education programs. Recover Alaska also has an online store where you can buy holiday ornaments and “Recover” swag; proceeds help the organization reduce alcohol use in our state. 

For the art lover in your life, you can find original, authentic work by Alaska Native artists—while supporting cultural and educational efforts at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage or online —by shopping at the center’s Ch’k’iqadi Gallery. The Morris Thompson Center in Fairbanks offers both an Alaska Native Gift Shop, where profits go directly to Alaska Native Elders, and the Alaska Geographic store, which supports the Thompson Center’s education and youth programs.  

Memberships make wonderful gifts, too. A year-long pass to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Portage, the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka, Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, or the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage supports wildlife rescue, education, and conservation efforts and gives your loved ones a chance to connect with Alaska’s natural world, all year long. 

When we talk about supporting nonprofits, we often think about volunteering or direct donations. Yes — and! These community-based business models remind us that everyday actions, like where we shop and where we eat, matter too.  

This season, I invite you to give with heart and shop with purpose. Choose gifts that come with a story. Choose businesses that build community. Choose joy, not just for the people receiving your gifts, but for the many more who benefit along the way. 

With gratitude this holiday season, and thank you for all you do, 

Gretchen Guess 
President and CEO