"You should have seen the first day we opened the food drive," said Cindy Beans, an assistant to the tribal administrator at Emmonak, a Yu'pik Eskimo village located at the mouth of the Yukon River, within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. "There were so many people walking with sleds. I heard of two young boys crying over a box of food. That first day I just watched droves of people heading over there."

Beans said that normally at this time of year people are out checking fish nets under the ice frequently, but because of fuel prices, their trips to the nets are less frequent.

"For me it is hard to see so many people having such a hard time," she said. "People always help each other, but with the price of fuel being so high, it is hard to help your neighbor."

By Feb. 5, more food - 4,460 pounds of it - began arriving in Kotlik, another Yu'pik Eskimo community 35 miles northeast of Emmonak, and more will be on the way, said Dana Strommen, an aide to Fairbanks Rep. Jay Ramras.

Ramras' office currently is looking into the needs of 11 other communities, including Alakanuk, Nunam Iqua, Kipnuk, Mountain Village, Scammon, Hooper Bay, Chevak, St. Mary's, Pilot Station, Marshall and Russian Mission.

Ramras also has introduced House Bill 114, which would allow for use of state transportation facilities for delivery of compassionate aid during a disaster emergency.

State officials, meanwhile, are working to document the cost of living and incomes of affected communities. State Commerce Commissioner Emil Notti said at a Jan. 26 news conference that families' average incomes are too high to qualify for an economic disaster under federal guidelines, which are not adjusted for the cost of living.

The current federal poverty level guideline is $26,500 and average income levels in that area, as far as the state can determine, are about $31,000, he said.

Notti said it was the state's understanding that there is food and fuel available in these communities, but those who own it are reluctant to extend credit. "They are all tapped out," he said.

Ramras has been the magnet behind the private-sector effort to make sure nobody goes hungry in these villages, where the price of fuel for vehicles and oil for heating homes is hovering around $8 a gallon, a three-pound can of Crisco costs $18 and five pounds of flour can cost $34.

Construction contractor George Osborne, in Kirkland, Wash., fired off an e-mail to Ramras Feb. 10, after reading about the food drive in USA Today, offering $10,000 to help buy food.

"I knew if Jay was involved, it would get done," said Osborne, whose firm has built schools and houses all over Western Alaska for several decades.

That sentiment was echoed by many others, including executives like Samantha Kirstein of the Fairbanks Community Food Bank.

"What Jay did is what he does so well," Kirstein said. "He is a great organizer."

Osborne said he made Ramras' acquaintance through Bill Slayden, a Fairbanks plumbing and heating contractor.

Slayden himself contacted Ramras several weeks ago to ask for help in transporting to the villages 3,000 pounds of food collected by Zion Lutheran Church in Fairbanks. When Ramras found no help available from state agencies, he contacted Jim Jansen, president of Lynden Inc., who offered to backhaul food donations from Fairbanks to Anchorage, for transport to the villages, and Alaska Airlines, which agreed to provide some free transport services.

Then Ramras placed calls to the Fairbanks Community Food Bank and the Food Bank of Alaska in Anchorage, asking for help in receiving and sorting donations, and to Pastor Glen Clary at the Anchorage Baptist Temple, who organized Anchorage-area faith-based groups to bring in more food and donations.

As a precaution, Ramras said he cleared his activities in advance with Joyce Anderson, director of legislative ethics, "to be sure I wasn't violating any rules," and he asked that donation checks be made out to one of the food banks.

The donations have been coming in on a steady basis, from legislators, businesses and individuals.

The Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission in Juneau has coordinated over $1,800 in cash donations to Food Bank of Alaska, said Mark Vinsel, AFIRM chairman. By coordinating donations from other fishermen's organizations including the Southeast Alaska Seiners Association, Cordova District Fishermen United and United Fishermen of Alaska, AFIRM was able to leverage its own donation of $500 to amass a total of more than $1,800 for the troubled villages. "The villages of Emmonak and Kotlik have over two hundred commercial fishing permit holders. Although AFIRM's focus remains to help fishermen in other regions, we saw the Food Bank's efforts as a way to leverage a donation to provide help to fishing families in the area," he said.

A fundraiser put on by legislators at the Hangar Ballroom in Juneau Feb. 7 brought in $4,500. Some legislators, including Ramras, made personal donations. Walmart, Safeway and several prominent business interests have also pledged their support.

It is on Ramras' behalf that the Food Bank of Alaska is serving as a collection point for food and monetary donations in Anchorage, said Susannah Morgan, executive director.

"We are also playing a bit of a role in trying to make sure there are distribution systems set up," said Morgan.

The greatest need right now is standard non-perishables, but monetary donations are especially welcome because the food bank can use the money to buy more food at wholesale rates, she said.

"The winter is always very hard for rural Alaska, but fuel prices have pushed people who were on the edge over it," she said.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.