Roads don’t reach Napakiak, a remote Alaskan village of fewer than 400 people accessible only by plane or boat. Isolated from the outside world, the village has long relied on its own resources, but the damage caused by Typhoon Halong in October required Napakiak’s residents to seek help, which is often hard to reach.
Thankfully, news of Napakiak’s need led Texans on Mission volunteers to assist in cleanup efforts in November. That recovery work continued through a second deployment to the village this July. The long, cold winter had slowed recovery efforts in the community, leaving many homes with water damage and debris and trash still littering residential areas.
After a 24-hour travel day involving three flights and a boat ride, the team arrived on July 30. They had plans to replace insulation in homes damaged by the storm, but the work quickly expanded.
Volunteer Dan Williams said the living conditions in the village shocked him at first. The houses were small, rundown and stood on stilts. Most of the family homes didn’t have kitchens, bathrooms or running water.
Still, the residents were content, Williams said.
“They all seem to be very happy,” Williams said. “It’s the way they've always lived.”
Over the course of the trip, volunteers worked on six homes, a church and a nearby mission, helping to prepare structures for additional repairs and making homes in the Alaskan wilderness more habitable for families.
Bundled up against wind chills dipping into the 30s, the team releveled and stabilized house foundations, removed damaged materials and personal belongings, cleared trash, touched up the electrical work, checked siding and ripped up warped flooring at the church. Their work stretched 14 hours long some days.
Blake Bryan, another TXM volunteer, said an interaction with one family showed him how essential their work was to the community. While volunteers worked on the home, the homeowner and his teenage son helped eagerly alongside them and chatted with the Yellow Caps.
“It was a blessing to see how much they appreciated the work we were doing,” Bryan said. “If they’re capable and they want to, it’s always fun to interact with homeowners and let them help out.”
One lesson the team learned on the deployment is that disaster relief doesn’t always go according to plan, said team leader Dyon Drain. Sometimes, serving well means seeing a need, adapting and trusting God to use the people and resources available in the moment.
Drain said his team embodied that flexibility, taking on whatever needs they encountered along the way.
“We all worked together, and it was wonderful to see with our varied backgrounds,” Drain said. “When they saw a need, we met it by being diverse and in different ways, being used by God at the moment rather than what we had pre-planned.”
Their work also led to several instances Drain described as “God moments.” On one trip to a local landfill, the team found a large chain and decided to take it with them. Later, while hauling debris back to the landfill, their truck became stuck in the mud. The chain — along with the help of a stranger — helped pull the truck free.
The encounter gave the team an opportunity to connect with a villager and share the mission behind why they were there.
“I just thought to myself, ‘this is a God moment,’” Drain said. “We had our T-shirts on. He knew who we were, what we were doing, why we were there and he thanked us.”
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