Pandemic prompts scaled-back Christmas tradition in Alaska Mark Thiessen, The Associated Press © Edward Eagerton, AP In this photo provided by the Alaska National Guard, soldiers from 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, unload gifts from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter Dec. 11 in Nanwalek, Alaska, during Operation Santa Claus.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - On a tiny speck of a frozen runway on the north bank of the Yukon River, nearly a hundred miles northwest of Fairbanks, Christmas was delivered in a most unusual way.
An Alaska National Guard helicopter descended through a rotor-whipped cloud of snow in Stevens Village, a tiny community of about 30 people. Townspeople rushed to the airstrip on their snowmobiles after seeing the helicopter land and then watched as Guardsmen wearing flight helmets unloaded boxes containing wrapped gifts for just about everyone in the community.
COVID-19 Limits Operation Santa Claus in Alaska
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Pandemic prompts scaled back Operation Santa Claus
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) On a tiny speck of a frozen runway on the north bank of the Yukon River, nearly a hundred miles northwest of Fairbanks, Christmas was delivered in a most unusual way.
An Alaska National Guard helicopter descended through a rotor-whipped cloud of snow in Stevens Village, a tiny community of about 30 people. Townspeople rushed to the airstrip on their snowmobiles after seeing the helicopter land and then watched as Guardsmen wearing flight helmets unloaded boxes containing wrapped gifts for just about everyone in the community.
Then they flew off.
This year’s edition of Operation Santa Claus didn’t have the pomp and grandeur of previous incarnations, but the mission of delivering gifts here and two other largely Alaska Native villages was completed with COVID-19 safety precautions in place.