HoWL thankful for Women Who Care grant
In early March, HoWL (Homer Wilderness Leaders) received some fantastic news. We were awarded the 100+ Women Who Care grant for this quarter! All across our community, we celebrated and let out a HUGE howl of relief. Hooooooooooowwwwlllll! We are sending this thank you out to the community to express our enormous amount of gratitude for the women involved in this amazing group and also to let our fellow community members know of their far-reaching effect.
The pandemic hit our nonprofit hard. One of the most challenging aspects of it was the inability to gather at our many fundraisers throughout the year which help us to offer scholarships to kids in need. In a typical HoWL fundraising year, we would be serving up yummy soups at our Chowder and Chill event up at the high school commons alongside the Mountain Filmfest put on by community schools. We would be asking local businesses to help sponsor kids in our DiRtBaGs program when they circulate through town to pick up trash. We would be co-hosting another Harvest festival at Alice’s at the tail end of summer to highlight the fantastic local eateries and the local ingredients they use.
While these events are slowly coming back and are now safer to run, the lag time when we did not do them is still financially prevalent. Thankfully, for HoWL, that is where the 100+ Women stepped in. The financial support from the 100+ WWC will enable us to offer scholarships this year and will offer HoWL more stability while we forge ahead in fulfilling our mission: to empower young leaders through outdoor experiential education, by providing fun and dynamic adventures in Alaska. We are SO pleased that our community members see the value in this endeavor and ask that you please join us in raising your glass (metaphorically or literally) to toast our local chapter of the 100+ Women Who Care! Through their generosity and commitment to community we know that they have our back when unforeseeable circumstances threaten the opportunities that are being offered through HoWL and other local non-profits.
From all of us on the HoWL board, all of the HoWL alumni and families, and from HoWLers to come, we thank you 100+ Women and we see that you DO CARE. We hope to make you proud with the work that we do in the coming years and we see and support your efforts. It is our hope that by writing this letter, we spread the word about your organization and how your work has and continues to touch many lives.
Sincerely,
Kate Crowley, HoWL Co-President
How will it impact Alaska?
Dear Editor,
Polls are showing that this fall’s election will be a catastrophe for Democrats, predicting a huge red wave of Republican electoral victories. They indicate that Democrats will likely lose control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. This is a result of several factors. Joe Biden has proven to be an inept leader and most Americans say our country is headed in the wrong direction under his leadership. Democrats in Congress are getting blamed for the massive inflation caused by their profligate spending. Democrat voters are not energized, and Republicans are still furious over what they perceive as an election stolen in 2020.
The real question is how bad these losses will be for Democrats and their allies here in Alaska. Conservative Republican Kelly Tshibaka is leading RINO Lisa Murkowski in the polls. Lisa is getting punished because of her consistent support for Joe Biden’s policies and radical nominees. Could this same pattern of voter dissatisfaction impact other state races? If so, we might see a more conservative governor and the statehouse run by conservative Republicans in the next session. Maybe even a Rep. Palin. There is a day of reckoning coming for Democrats, and it could be glorious.
Respectfully,
Greg Sarber
Agenda 21
Global warming by gas emissions is a hoax that is demobilizing us.
The carbon neutral imperative: smart cities, global governance.
Tod Tenhoff
Thank you Homer Foundation
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Friends of Kachemak Bay State Parks, I’d like to thank and recognize the support from the “Opportunity and May M. Benson Charitable Funds” at the Homer Foundation, for a grant of $3,700 to purchase a hydraulic driven walk-behind mower. This much needed equipment will help maintain, improve, and build foot trails, more efficiently in the Cottonwood-Eastland section of Kachemak Bay State Park.
Many thanks to the Homer Foundation for supporting better trails that promote healthy outdoor activities in the Homer area.
Kathy Sarns, President, and the Board of Directors, Friends of Kachemak Bay State Parks
It’s a very special election
This Special Election, per the U.S. Constitution, is being held to replace Alaska’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives vacated by the death of Congressman Don Young. It is only for the remaining of his term which ends this year. This is a by-mail only primary election. Ballots will be mailed to every registered voter in the state beginning April 27. They are due back, or post-marked, by June 11 in the postage-paid envelope provided.
Your deadline to be a registered voter is May 12. All Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend recipients are registered voters, but you may want to make sure your address is current. You can check for that along with your voting status, to see if your ballot has been mailed, and then if it has been received at https://myvoterinformation.alaska.gov/. Or, visit your local Legislative Information Office.
There are 48 candidates who have been certified to run in this election. The candidate list is found at https://www.elections.alaska.gov/. There you can view websites and email them with questions that are important to you.
Primary elections are held to pare down the candidates. This is an open primary, meaning all party and unaffiliated candidates will be on one ballot. You vote for one candidate, and the top four candidates will advance to the general election. That election will be held with the regular Primary Election on August 16.
There will be much more voting information coming out as this is a big election year. Follow it all on the state election website. While there you can practice Ranked Choice Voting at https://app.rankedvote.co/elections/18132/Official-Election-Pamphlet-Cover-Art-Contest/18322/vote. Kids from all over the state submitted artwork for the I Voted stickers and artwork for the cover of the Election Pamphlet and need you to Rank Choice their work. The deadline for that is April 12.
Remember, your vote does count and your voice does matter.
Therese Lewandowski, Kenai Peninsula Votes
