Santa’s work is never done

WASILLA — Santa Claus’ work, though it reaches its zenith on Christmas, is a year-round commitment to building toys. But what about the cops involved in the Santa Cop program?

Turns out their work lasts all year as well.

The program’s coordinator, Donna Anthony, a Palmer Police Department investigator attached to the Alaska State Troopers’ Mat-Su Narcotics Team, said that this year when officers went to deliver presents to one of the many senior citizens on their list, they stumbled into a project that was bigger than any one of them could handle alone.

The woman, who is 63 and lives on the outskirts of Wasilla, has asked that her name not be used in print. Anthony explained that police are trying to protect her from an exploitative and abusive man whom she recently freed herself from.

Anthony said that when officers came to her home, it was obvious she’d all but given up. The place was cold. Later, Anthony wrote in an e-mail seeking to drum up help, they found out that the pipes in the woman’s home had broken, leaving her without a shower or a means to wash her clothes. She had no money to fix the plumbing

“This is unacceptable and I’m looking for suggestions on how we can help,” Anthony wrote in her e-mail.

Sgt. Kelly Swihart with the Wasilla Police Department answered the call. He went to the cabin, bringing along a contractor to help put the pipes back in order. But he quickly realized there were many more problems than just the pipes — wiring, both of the home’s wood stoves and, he said in an e-mail, “multiple other issues.”

And so, early last week, Swihart, Anthony, a handful of contractors, a doctor and a few more cops held a meeting on the second story of the Wasilla Police Department. Anthony said officers had decided to put the woman in a hotel for a while.

“It’s cold. It was so cold we just had to take her out of there,” Anthony said.

As to how the woman let things deteriorate, Anthony said it seemed to her that the woman had spent so much time in an abusive relationship that she’d more or less withdrawn from society. Now that she was free, transitioning back into a normal life has been difficult. Anthony said the woman also didn’t think to reach out for help. She’d essentially given up.

“She just didn’t think anyone would go out of their way to help her,” Anthony said.

Apparently, she was wrong.

Anthony said at the meeting that she’d discussed options with the woman and nearly every option was on the table. She said the woman was willing to sell the place outright and use the money to buy something smaller and more manageable. Or she could give up on the cabin and move into a trailer home on the property. Or they could fix up the cabin.

“I’m trying to get the resources to get her back on her feet. I just need a way to get her taken care of in the meantime,” Anthony said.

As the meeting wound down, everyone at the table seemed agreed that to really figure out a game plan they needed to go out to the property. So they did.

Touring the cabin, the question that seemed to hang in the air was, is the structure worth the effort or is it one of those places that’s better bulldozed?

The contractors on hand seemed to think it was a close call. There was daylight peaking through the gaps between the logs that formed the cabin’s walls. There were holes in the floor. A tarp was set up in the bedroom to gather water from what the woman had assumed was a leaky roof. Contractors said it was actually probably condensation; the cabin had absolutely no insulation to speak of.

The final verdict? The trailer home would be a better solution. But the trailer hasn’t been lived in for sometime and needed a lot of work.

So this week that’s what officers and contractors set about doing; replacing broken windows, sealing up the place so it would hold in the heat.

“Our main goal is to give her running water and heat,” Anthony said.

Getting that heat started, in one sense, might be easy but in another, very hard. The trailer has natural gas running to it. But the woman owes Enstar $2,000. Swihart said she had tenants briefly and that they apparently took off after running up that gas bill.

Anthony said she’s taken on the task of coordinating paperwork and applying to assistance programs. Swihart is corralling the contractors. Anthony’s boss’s boss’s boss, Palmer City Manager Bill Allen, is working to drum up donations. On Feb. 27 everyone is going to gather to put the place in order.

And she and her Santa Cop colleagues could still use lots of help; donations of time, materials or money would be much appreciated. The trailer doesn’t have a refrigerator or a stove; the bedroom needs to be painted and lacks closet rods. The list of things the woman could use is long.

Anyone who’s interested in helping should call the Wasilla Police Department at 352-5401 and ask for Sgt. Swihart or Chris McCormick. Donations can be dropped off at Wasilla Police headquarters during business hours Monday through Friday.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.