Volunteers aim to clean up local neighborhoods, one broken window at a time

WASILLA— Families for the Improvement of Safety and Health or, “The Williwaw Project” recently became an official 501(c) (3) non-profit organization Aug. 31 after a group of recovered addicts, felons, parents, and active neighborhood watchers banded together under the common good and a common goal, The group aims for an unwavering commitment to improving the Williwaw neighborhood, then other struggling neighborhood across the Valley, one broken window at a time.

“We just need to promote what we’re doing here and bring people in to see it for themselves,” FISH co-founder and president Abe Sayen said.

FISH swam off the momentum created by Williwaw resident Michael Fernandez and FISH co-founder and vice president Michelle Swan last year, according to Sayen. Like many other residents in Williwaw, an area off Bogard Road outside of Wasilla city limits, Fernandez was constantly worried about being robbed or assaulted.

He started speaking out, attending Mat-Su Borough Assembly meetings and patrolling the neighborhood with Swan and other residents to form a grassroots neighborhood watch. After several meetings, door-to-door outreach, walks, talks and phone call after phone call to mayors, assembly members, senators, the spark ignited and many eyes were on Williwaw, waiting to see what would happen next.

Several dozen residents actively patrol the streets, walking past a handful of official Neighborhood Watch signs erected last year, due in to their constant stream of communication and shared resources.

Sayen aims to have everyone NARCAN trained, in FISH and as many Williwaw residents as possible. FISH has a tentative date, Oct. 20, in place to host a NARCAN training event. They just need to tie up a few more loose ends like securing a location, FISH co-founder and treasurer, Rachel Sayen-Lambert said.

On Oct. 14, FISH will host its first Neighborhood Pumpkin Carving Day. They will carve pumpkins, roast hot dogs and marshmallows, drink hot chocolate around a bonfire. The public is officially invited by FISH to join this free event and any Williwaw parents who want to volunteer.

On Oct. 31, FISH, and at least 30 participating houses will host the first Neighborhood Trick or Treating event from 5 to 9 p.m. This is huge deal to Sayen.

“I’ve lived here 19 years and never trick or treated,” Sayen said.

The group members said they want to help ensure a safe environment for the holiday festivity.

“They didn’t want to lock their kids inside because this crazy stuff is going on outside,” Sayen-Lambert said.

The borough recently placed a handful of lights in Williwaw and are set to place more down the road, according to Swan.

“This is a big deal,” Michelle Swan, FISH co-founder and vice-president said.

Sayen said FISH was inspired by the broken windows theory, an academic theory proposed by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982 that used broken windows as a metaphor used the crime disorders of struggling neighborhoods with squat, flop and now, in 2018, trap houses. He said that the idea is that by offering to clean up a drug house, fixing windows, positive and lasting changes often follow suit. He said that other neighborhoods around the country are applying it with encouraging results.

So far, FISH has cleaned their first two houses and helped three addicts get into treatment, according to Sayen.

Swan said that the idea behind their movement is to embrace the struggling addicts in their neighborhood with kindness, then branching their open arms and willing hands to other neighborhoods.

“We’re a diverse family here,” Sayen said.

For more information contact FISH Board of directors Marcean Lambert and Ion Ungureanu. Contact Rachel Sayen-Lambert at 907-841-0060 for more information or to volunteer.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com