Alaska Partnership Gets Essential Supplies to Native Alaskan Villages

Alaska is known for its intense living conditions — incredibly cold temperatures, tough terrain, and long nights. For Convoy of Hope, Alaska has been a strategic location to serve others. 

Convoy partner Last Frontier Ministries has been working since 2008 to serve Native Alaskan villages along the Yukon River. Sam Kimmel is the organization’s co-founder and a trained emergency medical technician (EMT) and registered nurse. He leads teams alongside his friend Rob Graham — also an EMT — to serve the people’s medical and practical needs.

Through its partnership with Convoy, Last Frontier is embarking on distribution events in the villages, which are often hard to get to due to weather conditions and the indigenous community’s hesitation to welcome non-Native visitors. A large part of Last Frontier’s mission is to show kindness to indigenous communities in a way they may have never experienced before.

“We’re trying to break down those walls that others have built up,” Sam said. 

A load of supplies from Convoy containing items such as Bombas socks, boots, and baby care kits arrives next week. Last Frontier will transport the supplies for the start of the school year, then throughout the following months as more villages reach out.

These deliveries are a sigh of relief for families. Often, supplies are shipped into major cities and charged per pound. Last Frontier’s deliveries mean one less thing for families to worry about this fall and winter.

Building Trust

Last Frontier has already seen huge changes from their practical service to villages like Minto, Alaska, where they’ve been serving for over a decade.

Their visits started with serving practical and medical needs. Although locals were wary of the team at first, they grew to trust them after two years of tangible service. Convoy of Hope has been able to play a part in that.

In December 2022, Last Frontier did food distributions in Minto with supplies from Convoy. Right after that, a major snowstorm shut down travel for a month. Sam said the food delivery was “perfect timing” for locals, who would not have had the food otherwise. 

He tells another story of a family who didn’t have money for diapers, so the distributions meant essential resources for their child.

Last Frontier is now building a center in Minto that can house people and snow vehicles full-time to help locally and in surrounding villages.

Restoring Dignity

These rural outreaches align with Convoy of Hope’s mission to restore dignity to the underserved and overlooked.

“When you help people with physical needs, it’s a foot in the door of the community,” said Convoy’s Karen Carr, who works closely with Last Frontier. “The hope is it’s a catalyst for transformation.” 

Last Frontier will continue distributing supplies in the coming months as more villages spread the word about them. In the meantime, they’ll keep serving in practical ways, bringing healing to the hurting as they do. 

To read more on Convoy’s help in reaching rural areas, visit our Rural Initiatives page.