MYHouse’s Carson named Sullivan’s Alaskan of the Week

WASILLA — Mat-Su advocate and co-founder of Wasilla’s MYHouse, has been named Alaskan of the Week by US Senator Dan Sullivan. Sullivan announced the honor into the US Congressional Record Thursday afternoon.

“Mr. President, every week I have been coming to the Senate floor to talk about someone in my great state who makes Alaska a better place for all of us--for the community, for everybody living there. I call this person our ‘Alaskan of the Week’. To be honest, it is one of the most fulfilling things I get to do as a Senator, recognizing back home and across the country special people in my state,” Sullivan said on the Senate floor. “It is truly the people of Alaska who make our state so special, people with big hearts who band together to solve challenges. Like all places, we have challenges.”

Sullivan said he wanted to recognize Carson, a founding member and current chair of the Mat-Su Opioid Task Force, for his work to help people in Alaska struggling with addiction.

“Many people in Palmer, the Mat-Su and across the state know Michael Carson’s name,” said Sullivan.

Originally from California, Carson received his undergraduate in early childhood development from the University of Texas. After hitchhiking through Africa and spending a summer in Mexico, he took a job teaching in Nome in 1974. A few years later, he moved to the Mat-Su to teach and taught our students for many years. Sullivan said after retiring from teaching, Carson’s yearning to help people, particularly our youth, did not leave him.

Sullivan noted Carson found himself working 12-hour shifts at Covenant House in Anchorage, a homeless youth shelter.

“That is what he was doing at Covenant House. He spent those hours walking through the city, reaching out to kids on the streets, sharing his own story, and inspiring our youth because his story also involves recovery,” Sullivan stated noting he was privileged to state in chambers it was a privilege to say Carson has been sober for 29 years. Sullivan said Carson realized kids in the Mat-Su also needed a place to go when they were in trouble and needed help, “Michael and another incredible constituent of mine, Michelle Overstreet, founded MYHouse in Palmer, a place that provides services like job assistance, access to healthcare, clothing, food, and showers for homeless youth. Michael still sits on the board, still remains a champion for all youth, particularly those in recovery and the homeless or disadvantaged. He leads recovery groups on-site weekly, as well as meetings with clients who are struggling. He has also volunteered to host recovery groups at the Mat-Su youth detention facility for the past 13 years. Michael has helped many young people get sober and stay sober.”

Sharing Overstreet’s words, Sullivan said, “It is not uncommon for youth to come into the drop-in center, homeless and just out of juvenile detention, and ask specifically for Michael, to come in and say that he helped them somewhere along their journey through life to sobriety, just to come in and say: ‘Thank you, Michael.’”

Sullivan said most know that the United States is in the midst of an opioid crisis, one that has become an epidemic in many places across the country.

The Senator said in 2015, more people in America died from overdoses--over 52,000, and most were linked to opioids and heroin--than car crashes or gun violence. Quoting Anchorage media sources, Sullivan said since May 1, there have been more than two overdoses a day in Anchorage, 34 in slightly more than two weeks.

“Like almost every State in this great Nation of ours, Alaska is being hit hard by the opioid crisis, and we are trying to focus as much attention as we can in a bipartisan fashion on addressing this crisis, whether in Alaska, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Indiana, or Vermont,” said Sullivan. “We need people like Michael.

Every state does. He started the Mat-Su grassroots opioid task force and continues to chair that effort to this day.”

Sullivan said Carson knows too well how the abuse of opioids, other drugs, and alcohol robs our citizens--but particularly our youth--of their lives, promise, and future.

The senator stated Carson also understands how very important it is to have resources for those who need the support and recovery.

“Those resources come in many forms. We have been trying in the Congress in the last year, year and a half, to bring significant resources to our state and local communities,” Sullivan said. “We are doing that.

State support is also important across the country. Perhaps most important is the community support and having people like Michael on the frontlines who understand that addiction is not a moral failure and that people who are suffering need help. They need help, not moral judgments from us.”

Sullivan said because of Carson’s involvement and the involvement of so many others in Alaska and particularly in the Mat-Su, there are places for people who are suffering to call and get help.

“There are places to go and heal and places where our youth can have leaders who listen to them, like Michael. Michael says it is vital for his own recovery to continue to help people who are suffering from addiction. He calls it ‘survivor obligation.’ I call it the work of angels,” Sullivan said. “Michael, thanks for all you do, and congratulations on being our Alaskan of the week.”