I HAVE HAD TWO DAUGHTERS..........

Laurie & Erin



Usually the sewer raccoon news editor adopts the third person in his dissertations, but this time I have to go with I have. Two daughters, and they're always on my mind. Sometimes, because they are so similar, though they have different mothers, I use their names interchangably. That shouldn't be, except that I am now 72 (AGE, yeah, that's the ticket!)and merely speak a name, while simultaneously focusing on one of them or the other, totally, in my wobbly mind.

They are of course individuals, and although they chuckle at my misnomers, I know they would prefer that I would call them by their right names, which I do very much of the time. Almost ALL the time.

Something happened in my luck of the progeny draw. I received two girls, thanks to their mothers and Providence, who are really very similar in disposition, temperament, likes, dislikes, looks and etceteras many.

[The two boys will follow in another SRN entry.]

Today I honor these girls very incompletely, by slicing cross-sections for raccoon news readers' microscope sliding, cross-sections, because as much as I love them, I regrettably cannot get my arms around them fully. It is not possible for me, especially Laurie, 20-some years a resident of Alaska:

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Laurie

[Just a cross-section]

She has lived with her husband Phil and their two girls Grace and Ruth, in Wasilla, Alaska. Her Facebook entry says:

"I'm really enjoying my job at Family Promise Mat-Su. Together with area churches we care for families in our Valley who have no home. Folks stay at the churches overnight and during the day receive case management to become self sufficient again. It's a blessing to be able to minister to the parents and children during this very difficult time in their lives. My own family is number one, though. Two terrific daughters in their teens and my husband is a hard working ex-Irondog snowmachine racer. We have a quirky husky-X dog, Tak, and a rather mature, feisty kitty (by that name). We live in the outskirts of a little town in Alaska, with our roots in the Midwest. Very thankful for email's invention for family contact 3,000 miles away. Family Promise shelters many homeless families using church buildings here in the Mat-Su Valley." Check out our website: http://www.familypromisematsu.org/

A recent newspaper article in Alaska mentioned Laurie's benevolent vocation, as follows:

From the Alaskan Frontiersman:

Ready for Change

By J.J. HarrierPublished on Saturday, March 1, 2008 11:03 PM AKST FrontiersmanPALMER — Marija Spaic is a high school senior in the Interior Distance Education Program of Alaska (IDEA).In February, Spaic and hundreds of other Alaska home-schoolers signed up for Close Up, a school program that takes students on an annual trip to Juneau each year to observe how government and state officials do their jobs. While there, Spaic and fellow Mat-Su Valley IDEA students Caleb Hein and Alison Bilafer approached their legislators about a community project. The three Valley home-school students wanted to help the homeless. Spaic, Hein and Bilafer began by raising funds for transportation for Family Promise Mat-Su, a small church-based nonprofit organization in Wasilla (where Laurie works) with a mission to help low-income and homeless families become independent and self-sustaining. As part of the trio’s project, they’ve organized a coin drive at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Wasilla from 4 to 7 p.m. March 7 and again March 14.Family Promise Mat-Su, part of the First Presbyterian Church of Wasilla, is committed to helping low-income families achieve lasting independence. Since 2005, the small agency has provided safe shelter, meals and support for low-income and homeless families through programs designed to redress the underlying causes of homelessness.Spaic, 17, who lives with her family in Palmer, moved to Alaska from Chicago five years ago. She has been home-schooled since seventh grade.“Where we lived, it was nearly impossible to homeschool down there,” Spaic said. “It was my parents’ decision (to homeschool), but it’s not like they forced me. I really enjoy it. Personally, it allows me to go as far as I want with certain things and there are no boundaries or things holding you back.”As a student gleaning her education from various methods of self-teaching, Spaic excelled. She recently was named one of more than 2,600 candidates in the United States for the 2008 Presidential Scholars Program for her exceptional performance on SAT exam essays, self-assessments, school recommendations and impressive transcripts.Interested in aspects of government, Spaic and other distance-education students signed up for Alaska’s Close Up to meet and network with other students and teachers in Juneau for five days as they learned about the three branches of state government and how they work together to govern Alaska.Alaska’s Close Up is the nation’s largest civic education organization geared for middle and high school students. Participants are educated in the democratic process, equipping them to become active citizens, make responsible decisions about the civic affairs of their community and country, and gain an understanding of the way the system works.For the three Valley students, it was a trip of a lifetime and an opportunity to get ideas for their community project.“We get to see government close up,” Spaic said. “For me, it was interesting to see how decisions in our state are made.”Spaic was instructed to establish a community project that would better the lives of the people in the Mat-Su Valley. She was grouped with Hein and Nilafer and began examining options.At first, the three teens considered constructing a pathway between the Palmer Public Library and Mat-Su Borough buildings. Then they roundtabled starting up a food bank in the area, as well as adding a paved bike path along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. The vision of their small group had big ideas.“We realized there was a lot of options involved in this project, so we tried to keep it simple,” Spaic said.Hein, 17, an IDEA school junior, met with Spaic earlier this year to map out a plan of action. At his family’s church, Hein stumbled across literature regarding Family Promise, a newly established local nonprofit organization that has been crusading this past year to help get low-income and homeless families back on their feet.Family Promise Mat-Su was having difficulty raising funds to help troubled residents get to and from work, school and other destinations, and was looking for help.That’s where the students and their coin drive come in.Money raised from the trio will go to bus and taxi services that will take homeless kids from the shelter churches to their schools of origin — the schools they attended before they became homeless. Parents looking for work are transported to and from job agencies as well. The Mat-Su Borough School District plays a large part in funding as well.“They’re human beings like we are and need things like we do,” Hein said. “So I said I’d like to help them out and brought the idea back to the group.”In January, Spaic and Hein joined with Palmer IDEA student Alison Bilafer, 15, and began researching. Family Promise provided the necessary tools to get the eager group started, including an informal meeting with some of the families they would be helping.For the past six weeks, the three have met to work on a plan of action, which involves setting up a coin donation booth at Sportsman Warehouse in Wasilla.
Laurie (Dix) Kari, a Family Promise Mat-Su coordinator, said she is surprised and grateful the IDEA students have taken the lead to help the agency’s cause.“Transportation is our main cost and what we usually need the most help with,” Kari said. “I think it’s really neat they’re helping, and especially that they are doing this incognito. I’m really blessed.”“Family Promise had found that this year they had little money for transportation funds for families in need,” Spaic said. “Things like gas vouchers, taxi money, bus fare and basic transportation to get to their schools and jobs. So we wanted to donate what we raised to that part of Family Promise.”Kari said Family Promise Mat-Su allocated roughly $5,000 for transportation costs alone in 2008, up $1,000 from last year’s expenditures.“It is something we’ve seen become a reality in helping families get through the day,” Kari said.In Juneau last week, state representatives were offering the three students advice on ways to get the word out about their fundraising project.“Rep. [Carl] Gatto and Sen. Lyda Green said we should have signs along the highway or attractions inside, like a candy bowl,” Hein said. “They also mentioned we should have someone sitting inside of a cardboard box for a visual. They gave us good ideas.”With a week to plan their big fundraising effort, the three students said there’s more to be learned from their school project and there are people in the community who could use a friendly and helping hand. For them, humility comes first.“I’ve never done anything like this before, so it’s a great learning experience,” Spaic said. “It feels good to know I’d contributed back to my community. Since I’ve lived here I definitely see a need to help the people living without homes. I’m learning a lot and we haven’t even raised the money yet.”Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

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Erin

[Just a cross-section]


Erin just graduated from Lawrence University with a bachelor's degree in history with a music minor. She is home for a month before going to grad school at UW Madison. She will pursue her goal of library science, archival.

Erin is a gifted musician on clarinet and piano. She played with the Lawrence Conservatory wind ensemble and symphonic orchestra, and before that played with the Waukesha South HS symphony and robust Jazz I band.

When the accompanying photo was taken, last night, she had just returned from playing a fund-raiser concert for China earthquake victims. Her Waukesha South HS music friend, Tina Liu, graduate of Harvard and still rising, asked Erin a week ago if she would be willing to accompany a 14 year old cello prodigy with symphonic credentials at a concert benefit to gather funds for Chinese earthquake victims.

Erin said yes.