From the Anchorage Daily News: ‘Kindness is contagious’: Every Alaskan has a story. Presented by Rasmuson Foundation.
“… Many Alaskans help each other on a one-off, individual basis. But it takes a community that’s used to helping each other to pull off more ambitious and long-term projects, like the transitional housing launched by In Our Backyard.
Founder Julie Greene-Graham said the idea first came up in a meeting with people from the Fairview neighborhood around her church, Central Lutheran. With the Sullivan Arena winter shelter closing soon, they expected that some former shelter residents would spread into the surrounding area. Some might even camp on Central’s property, which adjoins a piece of open city land along A Street.
Greene-Graham said that, as the group discussed ideas and concerns, someone asked, “could Central host them?”
In previous years, the church had worked with other congregations to provide a rotating shelter for families. But each church only hosted people one night a week. (This program has since moved to a residential building staffed by rotating volunteers.)
Central’s building couldn’t provide long-term shelter work, but the conversation got Greene-Graham and others at the church thinking about other parts of their property. The church has a fairly large parking lot, she said. Could it be used to help provide new shelter?
Months of research and conversation later, Greene-Graham and a vicar at the church had gotten support from the congregation, formed a board to lead In Our Backyard and launched an effort to build six tiny homes on the southwest corner of Central Lutheran’s property at 1420 Cordova St.
With support from other churches, plus community and corporate sponsors including Rasmuson Foundation, In Our Backyard plans to welcome six new residents before the New Year.
Greene-Graham hopes that what they learn from the experience can help others launch similar projects of their own. “If other churches or even business groups or organizations could take what we’re doing and build five or six houses for shelter, that would really get people off the street and keep people from dying,” she said.
The forms may continue to change, but helping others remains an Alaskan tradition.