New food security project starting up in Wrangell

"Concern" is a common theme in the COVID-19 pandemic. People are concerned about their health, their jobs, getting their kids back into school, and the economic prospects of their community, among other things. Wrangell resident Kassee Schlotzhauer wants to help ensure that getting enough to eat is not one such concern, through Wrangell's Subsistence Giving Project.

"My family and me, we like to subsistence hunt, fish, gather for our family for the winters," she said. "This last year I started dabbling in proxying for people. Pretty much, proxy hunting is people that can't get out and do it themselves, I just take their tags and I hunt for them."

Schlotzhauer said that the idea for Wrangell's Subsistence Giving Project came to her when she first heard of a grant program through Spruce Root in Juneau, looking to fund food security programs. She said she sent in an application out of curiosity. Spruce Root liked her idea, and she received a $4,500 grant to move forward.

The idea behind the food security program, she said, is to continue subsistence hunting, fishing, and gathering on behalf of those who cannot do so themselves. She has already been gathering berries to make into jam, she said, and will be going out on a fishing trip in the near future. Schlotzhauer added that she hopes to provide some meat in the future, too, once hunting season rolls around.

Once the food is gathered and processed, she said that she plans to go around town to disperse the food amongst elderly Wrangell residents. She also wants to donate any extra food to local nonprofits. The $4,500 grant is going to be used for equipment to process and prepare food. Schlotzhauer added that she is working on putting together a list of those who might want donations, and that she will also be reaching out to the native community for their input.

"I'm going to be reaching out to our local elders to try and make an elder board, to make sure what I'm doing isn't going to negatively impact any of the native traditions," she said. "From there, they can probably get me a pretty good list of all the local elderly folks that could use that."

More information on the project can be found on Facebook, under "Wrangell's Subsistence Giving Project." Donations and volunteers are welcome, she said.

"I just really want to be able to help people that need it in this time, because it's a little bit uncertain," Schlotzhauer said.