Alaska National Guard participate in the 'Operation Santa Claus' program, visiting the 300 or so residents of Napakiak, Alaska, to bring gifts and spread holiday cheer, after erosion is forcing everyone to move their town farther inland.
NAPAKIAK, Alaska -- A school employee wearing a traditional pink Alaska Native smock called a kuspuk breezed through the hubbub in the cafeteria adorned with murals of purely Alaska scenes, zigzagging through children clutching presents and past uniformed soldiers wearing Santa caps.That’s a rare emotion of late for the 300 or so residents of this western Alaska community.
Now in its 63rd year, Operation Santa Claus has become a rarity among National Guard units. Defense officials have shut down the program everywhere but Alaska, where the mission survives because the state is so large and some communities are so remote. “We love this, we truly love coming here,” said Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe, the adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard who found himself topping ice cream sundaes with cherries for the revelers in Napakiak. “This is a proud tradition.”The Salvation Army is celebrating its 50th year of helping the Guard, collecting gifts, book bags and other items to be distributed.
“You see this at a number of rivers in western Alaska where the bank stability is so much less than it used to be because the warming temperatures are allowing the banks to just crumble away with even typical river flows,” he said.In September, the village school’s 10 fuel tanks were relocated by barge across the river to the nearby town of Bethel after being threatened by aggressive riverbank erosion.
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