Rural Alaska

Christmas brings gift of 65 wood stoves to Tyonek residents

Christmas came a week early for many in the Southcentral Alaska village of Tyonek, but gifts arrived not on a sleigh but a Skyvan flown by Alaska Air Taxi.

James Bowers with JW Industries Group, a contract agency that provides logistical support services for the Tyonek Native Council, said two efforts came together with a single plane trip, bringing new wood-burning stoves to many in the community, as well as a turkey for virtually everyone's holiday table.

"Everyone was just so pleased," Bowers said.

Bowers said the effort was initially focused on bringing about 65 modern wood-burning stoves to the village through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded effort. Much of the village was built in the 1960s, Bowers said, and as a result, the stoves were barrel stoves -- essentially 55-gallon oil drums converted into a heating appliance. Other portions of the village were built in the 1980s, and while those stoves were newer, they still were a far cry from today's ultra-efficient wood-burning appliances.

JW Industries worked with Moore Heating in Anchorage to get an exceptional deal on the modern wood-burning stoves, which are made in Washington state and have an efficiency grading of 90 percent, Bowers said.

Then the Tyonek Native Council asked for help coordinating the purchase of 81 turkeys for the villagers.

"They wanted to ensure all of the residents of the village would have a wonderful and well-fed Christmas," Bowers said.

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One of the Anchorage Fred Meyer stores drastically reduced the per-pound cost, Bowers said, and the only detail left was how to fly 1,000 pounds of turkey across Cook Inlet. Since the stoves were already scheduled to be delivered, the turkeys were able to hitch a ride on the Alaska Air Taxi Skyvan, facilitated by Jack Barber.

The large aircraft landed in Tyonek, and a waiting crew got right to work pushing the huge pallets of stoves across the frozen airport ground to a spot where a forklift could safely pick them up and move them inside.

"This was a labor of Christian love," Bowers said.

The turkeys were slid right into the back of a waiting pickup truck and taken to town for distribution, Bowers said.

Meanwhile, crews unwrapped a couple of the stoves to take a look at the new equipment. Bowers said they were instantly impressed.

"There were questions about changing the stoves out," he said. "Some people said, 'I've had my stove for 50 years and I don't want to change it,' and then they opened one of the boxes and they just stared at them. And then they said, 'OK, this is good.'"

The story gets even better, Bowers said. With all the new stoves coming to the community, someone needs to install them. Rather than hire people from Anchorage to install the stoves, Moore Heating in Anchorage is training a local labor force of villagers to install the stoves in Tyonek. They're being trained this week and are expected to have work for about two months during a time of year when employment is scarce.

In addition, two workers will be hired to repaint many of the elders' homes with paint donated by Sherwin-Williams in Anchorage. After so many years with stoves that were anything but airtight, the soot buildup in some homes is substantial, so the paint will refresh these homes substantially, Bowers said.

Elders' homes will be the first to get new stoves, Bowers said, and virtually all the residents will qualify to get free stoves through the federal funding program.

For everyone involved, Bowers said the project was heartwarming and "homewarming."

"These are great people wanting to better themselves," he said. "This was a lot of people coming together to help the village help themselves."

This story originally appeared in The Bristol Bay Times/Dutch Harbor Fisherman and has been republished with permission.

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