Cost of living is expensive on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. For some residents, groceries can be hard to find and out of reach — especially when federal SNAP benefits are delayed, or natural disaster hits. The POWER Thrift Store in downtown Craig has helped those in need for more than 30 years.
Four days a week, people come to POWER and squeeze their way through racks of clothes or browse the floor to ceiling bookshelves.
There are blankets, curtains, and an entire room dedicated to kitchen gadgets and dishware. The staircase, lined with coffee pots and home goods, leads to a jam-packed room of holiday decorations and kids toys.
In a back room, Victoria Merritt puts boxes of Cheerios and canned potatoes on shelves.
“This is my morning workout,” Merritt says. “I buy the food and I put it away. Then I know where it is.”
She gets all the food from the local grocery store using money from donations. All this food goes to the community by way of emergency food boxes. Merritt says they give away around one thousand boxes a year, all tailored to family size and preferences. It’s mostly non-perishables, but there are some eggs, meats and cheese, too.
“And some of it is just kind of odd,” she said. “You’ll see that our lovely big old freezer is probably thirty plus years old and its held together with duct tape.”
POWER, which stands for Prince of Wales Emergency Response, has existed since 1988.
Merritt says it started when two locals noticed people would would throw nice, wearable clothes in the trash. So they started picking through it and started a small thrift store, using that money to buy food for people.
The city of Craig owns the building and charges $1 a year. It is entirely donation based and runs solely on volunteers.
“Otherwise we couldn’t afford to do this,” Merritt said. “Everyone who works here is a volunteer. It’s rare for an organization like this to continue on for 30 some years. In fact, one year, the IRS was like, ‘well you gotta pay someone.’ And we were like, ‘um no, we just got a bunch of fools that work for free.’”
POWER has a policy of not giving out more than six food boxes to a family every year. But Merritt says she’s never turned anyone in need away.
She says they’re usually busiest near the end of the month when people are running low on their SNAP benefits, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“I don’t want anyone to feel food insecure if they don’t have food,” Merritt said.
Near the front door are stacks of papers where people can apply for assistance. If someone is applying for a food box, they can cross off foods they’re allergic to or any items they don’t like.
The kitchen functions as a workspace for the 20 or so regular volunteers. It’s where they go over paperwork about who has received assistance, when, and what for. On top of the food boxes, POWER helps island residents with utility assistance, transportation for medical trips and other emergencies.
Samantha Wilson has been volunteering with POWER for years. She says they rarely say no to people asking for help.
“Generally that doesn’t happen too much,” Wilson said. “There are cases sometimes where people will have requests that are a little difficult to meet, so we always try to meet them wherever they’re at.”
An example of that would be paying people’s fees, rather than someone’s bill. Then all of the fees are paid off, but they still can’t pay for electricity.
“I think the one time we can’t really help people is when we’re actually fixing the problem,” Wilson said. “POWER is about trying to get that resource to people.”
Merritt says even though they don’t typically pay deposits or late charges, there are exceptions. There is an IOU system where people can promise to pay back the money in increments — or they can pay back by volunteering.
Sherry Preston got a food box last month when she was struggling to make ends meet.
“It was priceless,” she said.
She’s been volunteering to help other people, too. She says she’s one of the most blessed people on the island.
“I hope this goes on forever,” Preston said. “The services here, the people are great to work with. And I get more than food boxes. I get clothing, shoes, necessities… and sometimes treats.”
In the near future, POWER will be giving out Thanksgiving food boxes for families on the island.
