According to an editorial letter from Bethel Search and Rescue to Alaska Newspapers Inc. (via The Tundra Drums), the Newtok family which tragically lost a father and two sons when a snowmachine fell through the ice last week will be in dire need of assistance this winter. The authors of the letter say the search and rescue group doesn't usually put out appeals for donations on people's behalf, but in this case, it has decided to make an exception: "We feel they really need it at this time." The surviving members, the mother, Margaret and her two daughters, all seriously bereaved according to the letter, rely on subsistence hunting and fishing for a living, but doing so without George Earviak Sr., their main provider, will probably be impossible. The appeal ends by giving an address to send donations to and asking people who work for social service agencies or foundations to contact the family if their organization might help. Read much more, here.
And please be careful out there. The ice is thin so far this year across much of Alaska. For more about that troubling situation, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports what scientists are finding during this year's annual ice-thickness measurements across the Interior.