Soldotna is hundreds of miles from Western Alaska, where a massive storm ravaged coastal communities over the weekend. The damage has many Kenai peninsula residents wanting to help. And from their Soldotna hangar, the Bethel-based Yute Commuter Service has stepped up to the plate, from collecting donations to dispatching passenger and cargo flights around the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Corenia Burgess assembled cardboard boxes in Yute Commuter Service’s hangar at the Soldotna Airport on Tuesday. By 11 a.m., she was already surrounded by a pile of donations dropped off that day – jars of food, jackets, gloves, laundry detergent and cans of coffee grounds.
“I’m just trying to get all of our loose items and boxes, that way when they come in to pick everything up, it’ll all be kind of in one location and able to move into the unit and send it out over to Southwest there,” she said.
Burgess is one of Yute Commuter’s roughly 10 full-time employees based in Soldotna. The airline serves about 50 villages across Western Alaska, including those hardest hit by the remnants of Typhoon Halong. The storm reached the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta early Sunday, flooding villages, displacing more than a thousand residents and killing at least one person. Two others are still missing.
Harrowing accounts from the region have prompted an outpouring of support around the state. Wade Renfro co-owns Yute Commuter Service and said they started getting calls from and evacuating residents before the storm hit.
“We knew the storm was coming, but they were concerned for elders and some of the people in the villages,” Renfro says. “So they contacted us and asked if we would help. We said, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it. We’ll donate to fly and we’ll go out there and get everybody we can.’ So we went out, started shuttling people as quick as we could.”
Yute Commuter Service operates about 20 small planes. Two are out of commission after suffering storm damage this week in Bethel. Renfro said it made sense to distribute supplies and donations to communities since they are already traveling throughout Western Alaska.
That includes everything donated at the Soldotna hangar.
Robert Rey was on the ground in Bethel on Tuesday. He said most donations are being funneled to villages through Bethel Search and Rescue and the Bethel post office.
“Everyone kind of puts their part in to help out as much as possible, and so that's what's happening right now,” he said.
Back in Soldotna, Chuck and Dena Pettijohn dropped off several trash bags full of clothes at the hangar. They’ve been reading about the storm on the news and wanted to help. He’s a former North Slope worker and she’s a former school teacher. Between the two of them and their now-grown kids, the Pettijohns say they’ve got a lot to give.
“We have a lot of winter gear, you know, because I worked on the Slope for 35 years – I just don't use it anymore,” Chuck said. “It's all in good shape. And I'm sure they could use it up there in the cold weather.”
Even as the donations pile up, there was more going on at the Yute Commuter Service hangar than meets the eye. The space also serves as the company’s dispatch center, which was aflurry with action on Tuesday.
The small room is dark, save for the wall of computer monitors that show weather forecasts, flight schedules and airplane locations.
Joseph Miller sat between two dispatchers, who fielded a steady stream of calls. Some came from people trying to get to Bethel. Others were from people trying to get home.
Miller pointed to an aerial view of Kwigillingok, which he shorthands to “Kwig.” Similarly, “Kong” refers to the village of Kongiganak.
“This is the airstrip we pulled them out of, and we shuttled them between Kwig and Kong – because the airstrip’s bigger in Kong – all day yesterday,” he said. “And then we flew them from Kong up here to Bethel.”
Miller estimates they’ve flown about 150 people across 200 flights and moved about 10,000 pounds of emergency supplies since Sunday. Right now, the company is donating flight time – they’re not charging evacuees. Renfro says it’s possible they’ll get reimbursed for the flights, but that’s something they’ll figure out later.
When she’s not managing donations, Burgess also works in the dispatch center. She said they're monitoring another wave of weather forecast to hit coastal communities, which has them mapping out passenger capacity on future flights.
“We're working on our next list of 20 out of Kipnuk right now, but we do have a handful more out of some of the other villages that we’ll slowly start coordinating as we go,” she said. “And so as soon as they're ready for us in Bethel, we're able to make that transition.”
Meanwhile, some evacuees have already arrived at Bethel’s National Guard Armory, according to reporting from KYUK in Bethel. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation has turned the armory into a 100-bed shelter. It’s estimated 1,400 people remain displaced across the region.
It’s far from the Kenai Peninsula. But Chuck Pettijohn – the former slope worker – said that doesn’t matter.
“We’re Alaskans and we want to help,” he said.
In Soldotna, Yute Commuter Service is accepting donations through Saturday at 8 p.m. at 627 Funny River Road. The company asks that items be sorted by type in advance and put in waterproof containers, like a trashbag. Donations can be dropped off at the hangar’s east door. The company asks that people wait for an employee to accept donated items.
Grant Aviation’s counters at the Kenai Municipal Airport and Ted Stevens International Airport are also accepting donations. The airline says all collected items will be sent to Anchorage and then to Bethel for distribution.
A comprehensive list of ways to support storm victims is available through Alaska Public Media.
