<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mt. Edgecumbe students and staff sort through donated items for displaced students to take as needed (KCAW/Cotter)</figcaption></figure>

Climbing over a mountain of trash bags filled with donated clothes in Mt. Edgecumbe High School’s former mail room, residential staff member Maddie Gillissie stands beside tables covered with a wide variety of donated goods, like board games, menstrual products, and toiletries. 

“As you can see, we kind of started sorting out the donations that was from our first round, and we got some yesterday and some today, and this is just from the past 48 hours,” says Gillissie.

Laundry buckets are packed like sardines at the back of the room, which are later filled with sorted clothes and bedding to be taken to the laundry room.

“So we’re gonna go through everything, make sure everything is good and can be given away, [and] wash all the clothes that need to be washed,” says Gillissie.

These donated goods will be distributed to incoming Mt. Edgecumbe High School students who have been displaced by Typhoon Halong, impacting nearly 2000 residents across Western Alaska. So far, three of the scheduled new students have arrived and have already taken advantage of some of the donated resources. Gillissie says they expect more displaced students could arrive in the future, but the timeline is uncertain. Which makes her task of organizing and labeling the donated goods all the more pressing. 

Fortunately, Gillissie is not alone in executing this task. Over the course of the evening, 10 student volunteers stop by to help sort and label all the donated goods. Amongst these students is senior Eden Dock, alongside her twin sister Kayla. For Dock, volunteering was personal, as her family is from Kipnuk, a village hit hard by Typhoon Halong.

“I was worried… [I was thinking] ‘Are they okay?’ And I hope they get to find good shelter,” says Dock.

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mt. Edgecumbe senior Eden Dock sorts through donated soaps and shampoos (KCAW/Cotter)</figcaption></figure>

Her family is safe and are currently sheltering in cities like Anchorage and Bethel. Dock knows how meaningful it is to have resources like Mt. Edgecumbe’s growing donation drive, and hopes that it can help students facing similar situations to her family. 

“I was thinking of my family from home and how this would have a great helpful impact for them,” says Dock.

Tom Gamble has worked at Mt. Edgecumbe for the past five years as a substitute teacher, language proctor, and basketball coach. When he heard about Typhoon Halong, his first thought was his current and former students. 

“My heart went out to them immediately, wondering, you know, were they in the houses? And sure enough, students from my team… Man, still tough to think of, but we’re a long ways away and trying to do something so that they know that their family cares,” says Gamble.

Shortly after hearing the news, Gamble and Gillissie knew they had to do something. The two teamed up, recruiting students to help brainstorm how Mt. Edgecumbe can support those in need. Their planning resulted in a donation drive across town, from local grocery stores to the city’s visitor center. And so far, Gillissie says the bins are overflowing with items on pickup day. 

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mt. Edgecumbe residential staff member Maddie Gillissie sorts through donated dry goods (KCAW/Cotter)</figcaption></figure>

“I think it’s more than I could have ever asked for,” says Gillissie. “After the first pickup, I had one student helping me, and she said, ‘Wow. Like, I’m so glad to see that people care,’ I’m glad to see people care too. I think Sitka does a really good job of showing up for the community and for its people. I’m glad that we could all rally together to do this.”

For now, students will continue to prepare donations for when their new classmates will arrive, so that they can have a clear and calm space to acquire what they need to adapt to their new home. Mt. Edgecumbe students have also organized social media campaigns, sending messages of strength to those impacted by Halong, and plan to host welcome gatherings and dancing spaces to help new students adjust to life in Sitka. For Gillissie, helping students develop mutual aid initiatives is important to her so she can demonstrate to her students that they have the power to make the world a better place.

“I think one of the things that I would want to teach my kids in this role that I am at Edgecumbe is that, like you’re never powerless,” says Gillissie. “There’s always something you can do. And it feels when things feel hopeless, there’s always hope.”

As the U.S. government shutdown continues into November, Mt. Edgecumbe’s drive is part of a growing trend across the country of mutual aid initiatives to support those in need, from natural disaster survivors to furloughed workers and those losing SNAP benefits. For Gamble, these efforts give him hope in people’s shared humanity and commitment to looking out for one another. 

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mt. Edgecumbe staff member Tom Gamble collaborates with students to sort through donated goods (KCAW/Cotter)</figcaption></figure>

“And so the student-led initiatives to community-led initiatives allow for people to have direct involvement in something, as opposed to maybe waiting for what is perceived as a benefit or a federal payout,” says Gamble. “People are just fixing the problems they see necessary to fix. We’re seeing [in] the face of adversities, humanity is showing its face.”

Listen to radio messages from MEHS students to communities impacted by ex-Typhoon Halong:
Trevon
Brody -Message 1
Brody- Message 2
Anne Marie