Veronica Slajer has worked on community engagement, stakeholder relations, and sustainable development matters affecting rural communities and Indigenous peoples for more than 30 years. Ms. Slajer, MA in rural development with a concentration on mining and communities, represented Alaska and communities on the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (US EITI) prior to its dissolution; Ms. Slajer continues to promote transparency and other mechanisms promoting inclusive and sustainable growth.

Mike will update us on the Ukraine. He will talk about how wars will be fought and how it will affect our future. Mike came to Alaska in 1966. He was a Vista volunteer. Did combat infantry DMZ Korea, been a carpenter, general laborer, commercial fisherman, worked wit Division of Corrections - helping prisoners leaving jail with finding work and housing, wrote grants as an administration to develop and manage drug, alcohol, and mental health programs in Anchorage, was an Ombudsman, investigator, public health researcher for Municipality Health Dept. He's a frequent traveler, and has lived in Russia!! An expansive background!

Through Visit Anchorage, our goal is to help residents rediscover what's already here and see Anchorage with fresh eyes, whether that's exploring something new or reconnecting with places you haven't visited in years.

Marilyn is the expert, the Goddess of the Flower Garden, the Queen of the Wild Forest according to members of her Garden Club. She knows all wildflowers. She is willing to share her acquired comprehensive knowledge with us. She can teach us the meaning of conservation, floriculture, and horticulture; inspire us to practice civic and road beauty, show us the art of gardening, and tell us how to plant wildflowers, best time to see them. She might discuss two invasive species (purple vetch is one), moss on copper, weeds verses flowers, legality of picking wildflowers, you can't stop, there are 1500 species!!! Marilyn does slide shows, power points, tours, field trips, walks, community projects, grants, and more!!

Pearson's goal is to promote awareness of Elder Fraud. He works for AK Federal Government in the Division of Public Advocacy. He will show a video from the FBI about a major case that was shown on KTUU. He will discuss those details. He will share ways to recognize and prevent fraud.

Dr. Katie Ringsmuth is spearheading the Alaska Week of Dreams, the state's marquee event celebrating the nations 250th Birthday. She represents Alaska on a statewide coalition known as Alaska Baseball 250. It's a composition of cultural, tourism professionals, and sports leaders planning Alaska's Week of Dreams. She works in the office of History and Archaeology in division of Parks and Recreation (outdoor). Has taught history at UAA. She works with National Park Service Anchorage Museum, Alaska Historical Society. She has authored 5 books: Alaska's Skyboys Cowboy Pilots and the Myths of the Last Frontier, At Work in the Wrangells, photo history 1895 - 1966 (includes Chitna and Million Dollar Bridge), to name a few. What a girl!

Katie has a home in Anchorage and a plane in Talkeetna. She is a member of the Ninety-Nines, female pilots. She is a flight instructor, Aviation writer for magazines, aerial photographer, and runs her own flight seeing company. That's not all! She has an Alaska(an) Climate and Aviation radio Podcast. In addition to all of the above, she is a Mom of two teenagers. Wow! If that's not enough, she changes her own plane's tires to skiis and back to tires again!! Welcome Katie!

Ken is a supervisor for 4 Anchorage detective units: Special Victims Unit, Crimes against Children Unit, Cyber Crimes Unit - known as ICAC Task Force, and Domestic Violence Unit. Each Unit is run by 1 sergeant and contains a total of 21 specialized detectives. Most of his work is done at Multi-Disciplinary Center. He partners child Advocacy Center, and Forensic Nursing Services of Providence. He also works with the office of Children Services. South Central Foundation and STAR advocates. "We investigate felony level sex crimes, assaults, human trafficking and Internet crimes against children including CSAM (Child sexual abuse material) Sextortion." He will talk about the process by which we investigate these crimes, how to recognize and report suspected crimes, and things you can do to protect yourself and your family. Ken will bring current statistics related to crime in AK, wit focus on Anchorage. He will also bring contacts and resource information to give out.

In Our Backyard is an opportunity to be proactive in addressing the needs of our homeless neighbors. It's a nonprofit founded in 223 by Central Lutheran Church in Anchorage. This project will serve as a model for other faith-based organizations, community groups, or businesses to address homelessness. Our mission is to serve our homeless senior citizen neighbors who make up 27% of our homeless population. As the work to obtain permanent homes we will help them by providing safe interim supportive house and connections to support services. They need donations, personal items, and volunteers.

Program: Join the award-winning Alaska author as she shares her entertaining series of similarities between America's founding fathers Alaska's early pioneers as they struggled for our independence. Her five-book series, Aunt Phil's Trunk, won the Literary Classics 2016 Gold Metal for Best Nonfiction Series. Her school curriculum for the series took Silver in 2018. Series named best of Anchorage in education 2021, 2022, & 2023. Laura will bring some of her books and arrive in costume!