So much has been posted about our amazing engineers and workers of the Alaska Department of Transportation for getting our roads safe and fixed, and the utility workers getting us back on the grid and safe drinking water, as well as our first responders for a quick and calm emergency response.
But I’d like to take a minute to thank the gas station attendants who stayed at their jobs right after the quake to service the hundreds of panicked people filling up on gas before attempting the 4-5 hour trip home to Eagle River and the Mat-Su Valley. I would like to heartily thank the hundreds of grocery store clerks who stayed that day to keep the stores open and who put in countless hours to clean up warehouses of glass and spills so that we could go in and get bread, water and necessities.
I would like to extend my enormous gratitude to the hardware store clerks at our Eagle River True Value who swept most of the mess into a roped-off corner and opened early the next day because, “people are going to need to fix stuff up and they need us open, not picture perfect.” In that same store, my husband witnessed a clerk scolding a fellow trying to buy more than one set of water heater hoses, saying, “Do you have multiple water heaters?” Fellow responded by shaking his head. Clerk asked, “Are you helping your neighbors?” Fellow sullenly shook his head in the negative again. Clerk says firmly, “Then I’ll only sell you the one set … there are going to be a lot of people needing those today.”
To the cheerful diner waitress at the Noisy Goose who kept our coffee topped up the day after this crazy event, to the artisans who forged ahead with a holiday craft show because people needed to have some cheer, to all the businesses that were up and running the next day, and to the musicians and actors who said that the show must go on … thank you a thousand times.
— Shannon McClear
Eagle River
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