As things settle down after Wrangell’s fatal landslide that happened in November, we looked back to how multiple communities helped victims – from monetary donations to creating physical space.
Many communities in Southeast Alaska came together after Wrangell’s deadly landslide in November.
Many Wrangell community members donated supplies. Additionally, Petersburg also donated supplies such as clothes and food and Hoonah raised funds.
Levi Mills lives in Hoonah and coaches wrestling. He said he always thinks of Southeast Alaska as one big family.
“I am of the Wooshkeetaan Clan,” he said. “My English name is Levi Mills. I come from Hoonah and I coach wrestling and I fish.”
At a pre-Thanksgiving wrestling tournament, the Hoonah team raised funds by singing Goosú Wa.é – or blanket song – and it means “where are you?”.
“We call it Goosú Wa.é. Sometimes it’s called the blanket song,” Mills said. “It’s a song for your father’s people because in the Tlingit culture, you follow your mother and it’s one of the times we get to honor our father’s clan. They’re basically calling out where are the son of or the child or children of this clan and we dance out to show respect.”
They raised about $715 at the gym that night and also collected other donations from around Hoonah.
At the Southeast Division II Regional Championship, Hoonah’s wrestling team presented the donation to Wrangell on December 2nd.
From the ground in Wrangell
During this time, Wrangell community members set up another fund to help victims and family members if they needed assistance.
As donations rolled in, community organizers felt the magnitude of the loss in their small community. This includes Darian Burley, who owns Magnolia Beauty Bar.
Burley said one of the landslide victims, Beth Heller, was her first ever pedicure appointment back in 2018 and the Hellers’ had continued to support her business.
Burley said the donations were able to help members of the two families directly involved in the slide.
She said it felt good to help and it’s been helpful for her grief and healing.
Lucy Robinson, the current Parks and Recreation Director, grew up in Wrangell. She helped gather donations with other community members and said it was easy to organize in a close knit town.
“I love it here,” she said. “It’s a great community and I truly feel like this past tragedy is a testament to pulling together and the support is a testament to what this community can do and the power it has to come together and support.”
She also created space in the community center for all the donations. She wanted it to be used for emergency evacuations and to create more of a true community center.
Without doubt, Robinson’s vision proved to be of use after the landslide because they stored the donations there. Additionally, people came together there during the Thanksgiving holiday to eat, watch movies and kids could play.
“A very casual connection and just kind of a space to take the load off of the heaviness of what’s happening in Wrangell,” Robinson said.
She said she’s impressed with the many people who stepped up to volunteer and come together.
“The fact that we have friends over in Petersburg that called us right away and within a day sent a boat of goods over,” Robinson said. “Then the community center came into play because it’s just a large space and it’s versatile.”
Right after the slide first happened she wanted to power through and do something, but after time passed she began to deal with the reality of the loss.
With this in mind, she said it’s important to lean on friends during difficult times.
