The Nome Static, August 2023

In celebration of National Children’s Day, Nome youngsters had the chance to hunt for rainbow-painted rocks and turn them in for a prize. Nome’s Children’s Day is part of a global celebration of the lives of children and the challenges they face. The event included activities for kids such as face painting, rock decorating, seed…

Construction is now well underway on a project to provide housing for those who experience chronic homelessness in Nome. Nome Community Center (NCC) started the project in 2018. The fifteen apartments, named ‘Homeplate’, will complement a seasonal shelter that the Nome Emergency Shelter Team (NEST) has operated seasonally since 2017. The current timeline for completion…

Veterinary care can be difficult to find in the remote stretches of Western Alaska. A veterinarian comes to Nome every six weeks, but other than that, the nearest veterinary care is in Anchorage, 500 miles and an hour-and-a-half-long flight away. PAWS of Nome, a non-profit pet rescue and advocacy organization based in Nome, has recently…

In late June, children lined Nome’s streets with booths to sell homemade juice, baked goods, and homemade goods. The second annual Mizuktata event had more than thirty booths participating, the result of several weeks of planning. “I love it because I think it started as teaching children a little bit about entrepreneurship,” says participant Reba…

One morning in June, people all over northwest Alaska awoke to discover they suddenly had no internet access or cell service. At first, no one knew what was wrong, but information slowly trickled in. The entire region receives its internet connection from a single undersea fiber-optic cable, which had been severed by sea ice off…