Salmon Frenzy

A week ago I returned home from Alaska. Many of you may not have even known I left Texas to go serve during Salmon Frenzy. I was not planning on going. Everyone I talked to asked when I was going back, and my answer was always I don't know. But as soon as possible. Two weeks before I flew from Texas to Alaska, I got a text message from a guy asking what he could do to facilitate getting me to Alaska for Salmon Frenzy. I was floored. Surprised. Unsure.

I had made a commitment to be home all summer. Spending time with my family, working for my Dad. I did not know what to do. I felt needed in two places. I wanted to be in two places at once. But in the end I decided that for now, God wanted me to spend my month of July in Kenai, Alaska.

While there I worked to prepare the supplies needed to enable nearly 400 volunteers to serve on the beach. The vision of Salmon Frenzy is to provide for a need of the people. For three weekends, white tents appear on three beaches and one boat dock to meet the needs of people. We give out free hotdogs, lemonade, hot chocolate, water, have a kids club with crafts, balloon animals, and a bounce house. We direct traffic, pick up the beach, anything that is needed we work to meet that need.

My job was to make sure the volunteers had the items they needed to meet the needs of the people. I spent hours in the barn counting, organizing, re-counting, and counting again, hot dogs, buns, lemonade, hot chocolate, spoons, pots, propane tanks, and the list goes on.

From buying, to sending out. I had to make sure that whatever was needed made it on to the trailers to go to the beaches everyday. Was it easy? No. Did it push me? Yes. But through hard work, and amazing people beside me, I made it.

The next post will introduce you to the amazing people I worked with. Without them, I would have had a zero success rate. But together, we had a small part in changing Alaska.