By: Kerry Reifel For most children, fundraisers for extra-curricular activities are a pretty common rite of passage while growing up. But, at Covenant House Alaska (CHA), many of our youth haven’t had those simple childhood experiences, which is what makes four Covey Youth’s recent accomplishment so much more significant. A group of CHA youth created the opportunity of a lifetime …
Volunteer Spotlight: Grace Blouin
Aug. 12, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer Most people are excellent at a few things or can do well at a lot of things. However, Grace Blouin is not like most people, with seemingly no limit to her excellence. For years upon years, Grace has served at Covenant House Alaska with an unmatched enthusiasm for …
Volunteer Spotlight: Heidi and Mike Valantas
May 20, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer One of the greatest perks of Covenant House Alaska is getting to see exceptional people rise up to do exceptional things. But when the husband-and-wife duo Heidi and Mike Valantas come in to volunteer, we get to see not just one, but two of such people! While Heidi …
Volunteer Spotlight: Tanna’s Career Journey
Feb. 24, 2022 By Sam Buisman – Covenant House Alaska Staff Writer Covenant House Alaska is an organization designed to uplift everyone under its roof. This is why many members of our team, like Tanna Lee, have risen from volunteering to working at Covey through our career opportunities. After volunteering to give back to a nonprofit that once came to …
Honoring Audri at Covenant House Alaska on Indigenous Peoples’ Day
10/11/21 By Covenant House International On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we are proud to honor our native sisters and brothers working in Covenant House sites across the countries where we operate services for young people facing homelessness. Audriana “Audri” Foss is from the Dena’ina and Yupik tribes from Pedro Bay, on Lake Iliamna, which is one of five of the smallest …
Covenant House Alaska Mentor Spotlight – Tom
Mentor Journey This month’s Covenant House Alaska mentor spotlight is Tom Homza! Tom has served as an exceptional Rights of Passage mentor since December 2018. Tom’s motivation to become a Covenant House Alaska mentor stems from our mission statement. In the Covenant House mission statement is a phrase about serving youth “with absolute respect.” I feel this is a critical …
Transformation Tuesday: Finding Direction in Turbulence
Every Tuesday, we like to share transformation stories of the youth here at Covenant House Alaska! This way, our partners and supporters can see how we make a difference together. No matter how big or small the accomplishment, we celebrate every step forward. Today’s transformation comes out of our Rapid Rehousing Program: During this trying time of COVID-19, Covenant House …
Q&A With Alison Kear – Executive Director Covenant House Alaska
We sat down with Executive Director – Alison Kear for her thoughts on the pandemic’s impact on the residents and staff of Covenant House Alaska. Q: Alison, it’s been awhile since we have been able to sit down and get a full run down of what’s happening at Covenant House Alaska. So… how have things been the last 6 months? …
Stronger on the Other Side
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Covenant House Alaska has supported over 200 youth with immediate shelter, independent living situations, meals, and connection to resources. We’ve provided mental health and physical health care, supported emotional wellbeing, and fostered education opportunities to students as they continued school outside of the classroom. While the doors of many other organizations and businesses …
Walking Through Barriers: Congratulations to our 2020 Graduates
High school students in their senior year of high school have struggled through the adjustments made by school closures that were prompted by COVID-19. They have been removed from their classrooms and isolated from their classmates and their teachers. Extracurricular activities and milestone moments like prom or commencement ceremonies have been cancelled. The graduates from our programs have experienced these …
