‘Good Neighbors’ named as paper marks 65 years

WASILLA — Back in May, the Frontiersman instituted Mat-Su Valley Good Neighbor Day.

In the five months since, we’ve asked people to tell us about their Mat-Su Good Neighbors. The nominations we received were all thoughtful, sincere and heartfelt words of appreciation for selfless acts of kindness.

We believe these awards are a mark of respect for what’s best about life in the Mat-Su Valley — we help each other. We take pride in being Good Neighbors. Here are the winners, who were announced Friday during a reception at the Frontiersman’s press facility to recognize the newspaper’s 65 years of publication in the Valley:

Individual:Two generations of caring

The prize went to two people, each from a different generation of the same family.

Rozann Kimpton is a remarkable woman. At 76, she is the oldest “new mom” we know. She is also the volunteer coordinator for the Mat-Su Grandparent Support Group in addition to being mom for her two adopted great-grandchildren. One is in elementary school and the other in middle school.

Betsy Woodin with Alaska Center for Resource Families nominated Kimpton and her granddaughter, Amanda, for Mat-Su Good Neighbor honors.

Woodin said that in addition to Rozann’s other work, she also volunteers to assist with ACRF trainings and special Resource Family events like the Appreciation Picnic and the Adoption Celebration.

“When relative caregivers feel overwhelmed, I send them to Rozann, as she can help them keep things in perspective,” Woodin wrote in her nomination. “She is a pleasure to work with and I feel fortunate to have her as a resource for other relative caregivers dealing with our complex child protection system.”

Great-granddaughter Amanda Kimpton, 12, seems cut from equally exceptional cloth. She organized a fleece blanket-making project that gave 22 cut-and-tie fleece blanket kits to eight families.

Amanda gave the kits to grandparents as a project to do with their grandchildren. Her plan was to share the completed blankets with children in foster care.

“I know how scary it is to be taken away from your parents,” she wrote. “You are taken away by people you don’t know, taken to a strange place. Having a nice new blanket or toy would make you feel better.”

Business: Palmer merchants organize food drive

It started as a conversation among friends and grew into a community-wide food drive with 55 collection points at Palmer-area businesses, which, by the time the whole thing was over Oct. 13, had netted 10,000 individual food items and more than $2,000 cash to help feed our neighbors.

Local businesses competed to see which could give the most. Some — like MEA — even went to the store with cash to buy food items to add to the competition.

Government bodies like the Mat-Su Borough and the school district got in on the act. Academy Charter School pulled out all the stops.

Denise Statz of Non-Essentials said hundreds of people shared time and food, but the effort succeeded due to the behind-the-scenes work of Patti Dubler from the Palmer Food Bank and Denise’s son, Kurt Statz, who did the legwork of contacting businesses and collecting donations.

“It was really a pretty thing to watch happen,” Statz said of the way the community came together.

Though this first-time effort succeeded beyond all expectations, she said the Palmer business community has already begun meeting to plan a bigger version of the effort for next year.

After all was said and done, the once-bare shelves of Palmer’s food pantry were filled again. It was an effort that surprised everyone.

Statz said soon after the event that she and her friends had intended to “shoot for the moon I guess, but this time we got the sun. Somehow we lassoed the sun.”

Organization: Real Love builds community

One Saturday this past July, people from around the Mat-Su Valley got up early to paint, rake, mow, clean, share and show love for their community at 29 locations from Houston to Palmer and Wasilla to Knik.

The Real Love Initiative was a two-month community service effort that brought together hundreds of neighbors from diverse backgrounds to work shoulder-to-shoulder building their community. These Mat-Su Good Neighbors filled backpacks with school supplies, volunteered for projects at local schools and senior centers, built sheds for a homeless relief project, made care packages of toiletries, snacks and treats to share with homeless neighbors, repainted Wasilla Wonderland Park, washed windows in downtown Palmer and led an effort to fill a truck with canned foods for Valley food banks. Mechanics did auto checks and medical professionals donated health screenings and school physicals.

Though she handled a lot of the behind-the-scenes coordination and was at the Frontiersman to accept the award on Friday, Traci Sundberg emphasized again and again that the Real Love Initiative isn’t about her, it’s about the hundreds of volunteers and neighbors who were helped.

“It’s the community — the hands and feet — serving the community — the people with needs — with the community — the local businesses,” Sundberg said.

She said ideas for projects came from all over. Even her son, Ryland, came up with one — filling those gallon Ziploc bags with supplies for homeless people.

The effort culminated July 28 with a day of service, called Real Love. At the end of the day, the community came together to share a meal, and for those who wanted to stick around, a community church service followed.

Real Love was a first-time event in the Mat-Su Valley, but it is likely here to stay. There’s even a website you can check out — reallovealaska.com.

Kathy Conn of Northgate Alaska is also secretary for the Valley Pastors Prayer Network, the group behind the event. In the past, she said, the group had organized a community church service, but this year decided to try a new approach.

Sundberg said she has been amazed by just how many people turned out to help and just how many people needed that help.

“It’s amazing,” Sundberg said. “And this community, it truly has a big heart.”

Contact managing editor Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com. Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.