human services
It Takes a Network to Feed Hungry Alaskans
The years had disappeared. My home had fallen apart; my children were gone. My possessions had all been lost or abandoned. The only thing I had left was a happy little mutt named Gypsy I had rescued from the dog pound years before.
Let me win; But if I cannot win; Let me be brave in the attempt
Anchorage’s Sullivan Arena is a big place. For a concert or a basketball game, it can seat more people — 8,700 — than live in most Alaska communities
Special Olympics Alaska needed a big place the night all the volunteers gathered for a final farewell.
A place for teenagers to go when they don’t have any other place…
On this cold December evening, as a group of citizens in this Anchorage community gather in a little downtown park, I remember a March night in 1983. Three teenagers, Samantha, Kris and I were somewhere in the Tennessee hills, on a Trailways bus, leaving behind chaos and confusion, bad parents, bad friends, bad lives, heading for something, anything better.
Safe Harbor is all about respect and dignity
The boarded up house on Anchorage’s East Third Avenue was too wretched to imagine people ever living there, people who kept the lawn mowed and put out the trash every week. Walls stripped and weeping moisture, it emitted a rot that burned the nose and turned the stomach.
Haven House
Haven House is a very special place here on the South Kenai Peninsula. Many lives are saved in this humble little clapboard building. Many lives are indeed begun anew. From personal experience (hey, all art is personal, right?) I have been impressed by the casual yet passionate way with which Peg Tileman (the former executive director featured here) and staff deal with domestic violence across all walks of life.
Housing Anchorage: Breaking gridlock. Breaking ground.
There are too few housing units to meet the current and projected housing needs in Anchorage. This is a real problem for victims of domestic violence, for working families, for job seekers, and kids returning from college. Rasmuson Foundation is embarking on a collaboration, Housing Anchorage, to find broad-based community solutions to improve the viability of housing options for Anchorage's workforce and spur economic growth.Calling on faith organizations
When communities of faith come together, there's no telling what impact they can generate. In this week's blog, Senior Program Associate Jeff Baird recounts the start of what may well be a very important ongoing conversation about serving Alaskans' basic needs.Women veterans partner with YWCA
Recent news of a partnership between a veterans group for women and YWCA of Alaska reminds Foundation President and CEO Diane Kaplan of a touching meeting between Mary Louise Rasmuson and members of the Alaska Veterans Organization for Women (AVOW). As Diane recounts in this post, Mary Louise passed away just a month after that meeting. But the special place in her heart for other women vets lives on.Media Mentions
- Tongue Unbroken podcast brings real talk about decolonization to mainstream media September 27
- Carvers across Southeast Alaska are working on totem poles that will line Juneau’s waterfront - Alaska Public Media September 13
- Chipping away the past: Dugout canoe means healing for Angoon | Juneau Empire September 9
- Meet the skateboarder behind some of Anchorage's most famous wall art | INDIE ALASKA - Alaska Public Media September 6