The generosity of our seafood partners is especially important in remote coastal communities such as Kotzebue, where seafood has dietary and cultural significance. The following is a GREAT example of the kind of network that helps us feed more seafood to more people.

Halibut donated from Ocean Beauty Seafoods and transportation from U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Kodiak Air Station helped SeaShare deliver valuable seafood to NANA Regional Corp. in Kotzebue, Alaska.

The USCG C-130 arrived about 1:15 p.m. Volunteers were allowed to go onto the tarmac to help unload. The halibut was divided up into separate pallets for each of the 11 villages, according to the number of elders in each one. Elders will get fish first, then the balance will be given to families according to need. Liz Moore of the NANA Regional Corp had it all very well organized, with separate sheets listing the names and numbers for each village. Donald and his sister at FBX Aviation Services donated their forklift expertise. The USCG flight crew helped unload, then re-load onto the various pallets and trucks. Some will be delivered by truck, but most will be transferred to smaller air carriers who have volunteered to fly out to the villages (no roads).

Here is an at-a-glance look at the donation:

• The C-130 shipment weighed 165,000 lbs. gross
• The fish donation weighed 16,000 pounds gross
• Roundtrip flight time from Kodiak to Kotzebue is four hours
• 8 crew members were on board the C-130