Donations have been pouring into Bethel Search and Rescue in the wake of the catastrophic storm that hit the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta over the weekend. On Tuesday, Oct. 14, the building was buzzing with volunteers and recent evacuees, some of whom have lost everything. Families from villages hit hardest grabbed items from long tables overflowing with clothes and essential goods.
"There was one I just had spoken with, he had mentioned that he can finally change his clothes," volunteer Kaitlin Andrew said.
Andrew said that her father and other family members were still sheltering in the coastal community of Kwigillingok. The storm — remnants of Typhoon Halong — nearly destroyed the village, and roughly 400 people were still sheltered at the school awaiting evacuation as of the afternoon of Oct. 14.
"They're messaging us and letting us know what they need over there right now," Andrew said.
Andrew said that within an hour of opening the donation center a day earlier, totes and bags from community members quickly filled up the corner of the one-story building.
"That pile over there was literally almost to the ceiling until we started organizing things," Andrew said, pointing to a mound of donations yet to be sorted.
The donations include winter boots, baby formula, and basic hygiene products: shampoo, toilet paper, and tampons. Most of the items are going directly to people already evacuated to Bethel. Some are being boxed up and sent to those still sheltered in coastal villages.
Volunteer Angie Walter stacked three boxes filled with clothes for a family in the Nelson Island community of Nightmute.
"The bottom box is mostly boots, and there's hats and gloves, pants and tops for a boy and a girl, and I guess maybe the dad and the mom," Walter said.
Volunteers said that with winter just weeks away, more cold weather gear is needed.
While some communities will be able to rebuild what was lost, others face a bleak future, or total uncertainty of whether their community will ever recover. Andrew, who still has family members stuck in the most affected area, said that all she and other volunteers can do is offer their support for people grappling with the concept of leaving behind their traditional homes.
"Some of them don't want to, because that's where they grew up, and that's their home. And so I think it's just to be there for them and to make sure that they know that they have a place," Andrew said.
Outside of the building, volunteers scrambled to make space for roughly 10 pallets of goods that had just arrived from Anchorage. The donations were coming in from all over and volunteers said that the donations are critical, with 100 people already evacuated to Bethel and hundreds more on the way.
