Santa is going to be a little late to a few villages this year.
Freezing fog in Bethel this week, and the week before, prevented the Army National Guard from flying their UH-60 Black Hawk to Akiak, Tuluksak, and Grayling to deliver toys and food for Alaska’s 60th Operation Santa Claus.
Since 1956, the tradition has brought together the Alaska National Guard, local businesses, and community groups to collect and deliver gifts to a few villages each year.
“We asked the schools when we got weathered out this time, we said, ‘Would you like to distribute everything before Christmas, or would you like us to reschedule, knowing that we could not make it until the 4th, 5th, or 6th?'” said April Gettys, who organizes the event for the Guard. “So the villages all agreed they’d rather have us come out with Santa Claus and some of the military members and give the kids the attention that we’re able to give to all the other villages.”
Alaska Army National Guard)
The trip is rescheduled for the first week of January, after school gets back in session.
“It’s post Christmas, but it’s pre-Russian Orthodox (Slavic),” Gettys said.
Slavic is Jan. 7. The holiday is celebrated in Akiak and Tuluksak, but not Grayling. Logistics mean that gifts to all three villages have to be delivered the same day.
And what do the kids get?
“Well it depends on what Santa’s elves make,” Gettys said. “It could be anything from models to Legos, basketballs, soccer balls, paint supplies, art supplies.”
Every child up to age 18 receives a gift.
School-age kids receive a backpack of school supplies and a personal hygiene bag.
“Which consists of toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, conditioner.”
And it doesn’t stop there.
The operation also brings out fresh fruit — bananas, apples, and oranges — and 1 ton of non-perishable food for the village.
“It’s flour, sugar, rice, powdered milk, cereal, canned veggies, pasta, soup,” Gettys said. “We reached out to the villages and asked them what they could utilize most, and that was the list that they gave us.”
If weather doesn’t cooperate in January, then the village schools will distribute the food and presents, which are already sitting there, waiting for Santa to hand them out.
Operation Santa Claus already made deliveries to Akiachak and Togiak earlier this season.
