Sarah Palin to visit stricken villages with Franklin Graham
High fuel costs and poor fishing have led to hardships in remote Alaskan villages near the mouth of the Yukon River. When The Rev Franklin Graham and other workers with his Christian relief organisation Samaritan’s Purse visited Wasilla yesterday to collect food donations for the stricken area, Governor Sarah Palin said she would personally help with delivery of supplies.
Palin made the surprise announcement Thursday as Graham’s Christian international relief organization — Samaritan’s Purse — gathered a mountain of donations in Wasilla. An official with the group said it’s buying 44,000 pounds of food for the region.
Palin and Graham’s first stop is scheduled for Russian Mission, a village of roughly 335 people on the Yukon River. City clerk Agnes Housler said Thursday that people there could use the help. “With the high cost of living, it’s hard to say no,” Housler said. “We can’t go out hunting and fishing like we used to to get our subsistence food because gas and oil prices are so high.”
What exactly will Gov Palin be doing?
“She will be participating in the actual work of the food drop. Her goals are to help the specific individuals she will be seeing and to express moral support for all of those in similar circumstances,” wrote Bill McAllister, her state spokesman.
As many as four planes were scheduled to leave for the Yukon River Delta this morning.
Palin has been criticised for being slow to react to the growing need for relief in western Alaska. At least one former critic, State Rep. Jay Ramras (R – Fairbanks), is praising her now: “I applaud her for following in the footsteps of what Alaskans and nonprofits and churches have already been doing over the last four to six weeks.”
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