Frontiersman article
Wasilla woman organizes
coast-to-coast Christmas project
Shelly
Blocker
Shelly Blocker stands on Kalskag Hill. She is from the Mat-Su
Valley but has taught Head Start in Kalskag and Lower Kalskag for the past two
years. Her latest service project will share Christmas gifts with every child
in Kalskag and Lower Kalskag.
Gifts
to Kalskag
Some of the gifts that will be distributed to students in the
Bush villages of Kalskag and Lower Kalskag. All 220 children in the two
villages will receive Christmas gifts thanks to a community service project
organized by the Valley’s Shelly Blocker who teaches Head Start there.
Posted:
Friday, December 13, 2013 12:45 pm
Posted on December 13, 2013
WASILLA — This isn’t the first
service project Head Start teacher Shelly Blocker has organized during her two
years working in the villages of Kalskag and Lower Kalskag along the 100 miles
up the Kuskokwim River from Bethel.
Blocker organized a coat drive
that shared coats, boots and other winter clothing with Kalskag kids last
Halloween, and she’s collected school supplies and other simple items to share.
“I’ve done all kinds of projects
over the last two years, but this is the big one,” she said.
This time her generous heart and
knack for organizing led to an effort that drew together like-minded people
from Hawaii, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington,
Oregon and Alaska who have shopped, shared and shipped gifts for all 220
children in the neighboring villages on the Kuskokwim Delta.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Blocker
said of the effort fueled in part by Facebook posts about the project. “I began
realizing that children don’t get many gifts out here.”
When she shared the idea with
Pastor Larry Hobbs from Louisiana, he was eager to help. It was Hobbs who
pushed the ripples of the project beyond Alaska, Blocker said.
She said when she began explaining
to Hobbs what life is like in rural Alaska, the pastor asked about the
children.
“Well, what about the children? Do
they get Christmas gifts,” he asked Blocker.
This year the answer is yes. Every
boy and girl in Kalskag and Lower Kalskag will receive a Christmas gift shared
by anonymous Santas from around the United Staters, Blocker said.
“It’s just an act of kindness,”
she said. “It was way too big for me to handle. I didn’t see how it could
happen without the people from all over.”
Sally Beach is part of the congregation
at Wasilla Christian Church on Knik-Goose Bay Road. The youth group there
adopted the 64 high school students in the two villages, Beach said.
Blocker sent a list with students’
first names, ages and gender and Wasilla students adopted someone from their
class who goes to school in Kalskag and purchased a $10 to $20 gift to send to
their student, Beach said.
“The youth group just jumped on
board,” she said.
Blocker said the gifts will be distributed to Kalskag Dec. 20 and 21, before she heads home to Wasilla on Dec. 23 to spend Christmas with family and friends.
Blocker said the gifts will be distributed to Kalskag Dec. 20 and 21, before she heads home to Wasilla on Dec. 23 to spend Christmas with family and friends.
Beach said Blocker used to teach
at Wasilla Lake Christian School, but felt called to serve in rural Alaska
where it is difficult to recruit and retain teachers.
Blocker said if people want to
help, the Head Start program she leads always needs socks and school supplies
for students in kindergarten through third grade.
She said the effort this season is
still a little short of toys or small gifts for children ages 0 to 3. Send
items to Calvary Mission Christmas, P.O. Box 99, Kalskag, AK 99607.
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