Mike O’Callaghan is running for mayor of Portland, Oregon. I wish he was running for mayor of Anchorage. Mike is a very dear friend of mine, so even though I thought his candidacy was quixotic, I sent the O’Callaghan for Mayor campaign $150 to help the cause. Being a character, Mike wants to solve the homeless problem in Portland (again, I wish he was running for mayor of Anchorage).
Mike and Lydia Darby started EARTH, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. Mike and Lydia asked me to serve as president of EARTH. While president of EARTH, back in the early 1990s Mike, Lydia and I, with the help of countless volunteers and business leaders like Carlile Trucking and the Carrs grocery store, gave away (free) about 3 million pounds of hatchery-surplus salmon and Bering Sea bycatch. The first giveaway was at the Fairview Rec Center. After that, the giveaway was located at the present site of the FBI building in downtown Anchorage.
Newcomers won’t remember any of this, but there are still a few of us old-timers around who recall EARTH and all the fish we gave away back then.
If anyone can provide the leadership and problem-solving skills to end homelessness in Portland, Oregon, Mike O’Callaghan can. I just wish he was running for mayor of Anchorage.
— Jed Whittaker
Anchorage
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