An Ice Alaska Volunteer

My work as a volunteer for Ice Alaska began during the Fall of 2006 and the Winter of 2007. During that Fall and Winter I was living at the "Ah Rose Marie" Bed and Breakfast at the corner of 3rd and Cowles Streets, Fairbanks, Alaska, and walking all around downtown Fairbanks and its surrounding areas, including the U.S. Army Base at Fort Wainwright, Alaska on the periphery of downtown Fairbanks. During one of my many walks all around everywhere (at least 15 miles each day or night) I first met a young Vietnamese woman named Hoa Brickley on the back side of Fort Wainwright when I got lost on a dark and cloudy evening in the early Fall of 2006. Ms. Brickley unexpectedly stopped to pick up this wandering Marine and wondered what I was doing so far out from the usual walking areas around Fort Wainwright. When I told her I thought I was heading for the main gate to go to Fairbanks, she laughed and told me I was going in the wrong direction and she would give me a ride to the Regency Hotel adjacent to Fort Wainwright, my temporary home at that time. During my ride home, she also informed me that she was the wife of a retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. who was now the CEO of Ice Alaska, a volunteer driven ice carving organization and that she was its business manager. She next left her phone number with directions to the Ice Park and inquired about my availability to work as a volunteer for Ice Alaska during its ice carving events. I had never heard of such a thing and thought it might be an excellent opportunity to learn something new and further explore this place God had sent me to for the purpose of earning a PhD in Theological History at the University Of Alaska.

Volunteer Work

I am a volunteer at Ice Alaska. Sometimes this very arduous work, sometimes not. As part of my volunteer work, I utilize an office at the Ice Park Complex at which I also do a lot of university study work.