The one-day, one-stop event provided people experiencing homelessness with access to a range of services: health and wellness screenings, legal services, employment assistance, toiletries, and a fresh, hot lunch. In the midst of the crowd walked Staci Manier, a UAA alumna (B.A. Human Services '13, with minors in psychology and history) who became community impact director for United Way of Mat-Su in 2014.
Five years ago, Eva Gregg was in the process of divorcing her husband. She was 45, and had recently moved from her parents' into an apartment near O'Malley and Elmore roads."I had a window that looked over to O'Malley," she said. There, in a pensive moment, she had an epiphany: "I survived 30 years of alcoholism and drug addiction so I could help other people. I asked myself, 'How can I help them?'"
Addiction and homelessness plague scores of people in Anchorage. Those topics will be the centerpiece of a Feb. 2 UAA Think Tank session, which is co-hosted by the UAA School of Nursing, with Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission featured as the guest agency.
A monthly injection of Vivitrol calms cravings for heroin, giving real help to addicts emerging from prison and, as UAA DNP alumna Jyll Green discovered, providing a good chance of keeping them from going back behind bars.
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