06.09.17

Sullivan Honors Alaskan of the Week: Marty Shroyer

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) spoke yesterday on the Senate floor in recognition of Marty Shroyer, of Kotzebue, an Alaskan who helped initiate an effort to feed the hungry in his community. Shroyer was recognized as part of Senator Sullivan’s series, “Alaskan of the Week.”

The following is the statement submitted to the Congressional Record:

TRIBUTE TO MARTY SHROYER

Madam President, every week for some months now, I have been coming to the Senate floor and I have been using the opportunity to talk about someone in my State, the great State of Alaska, who has made a difference. We call that person the Alaskan of the Week. These are individuals who are unsung in many ways and who are doing something for their community, for their State, and in many ways are inspiring everybody.

I am a little biased, but I believe I live in the most beautiful State in the country, probably the most beautiful place in the world, full of wonderful people and beautiful landscapes, and we certainly encourage everybody here in the Senate or those who are watching on TV to come to Alaska and experience it themselves, and they will have the trip of a lifetime, guaranteed. We are also blessed to live in a land that provides so much for our physical and spiritual needs. It is a very spiritual place.

Alaskans are hardy people; however, like anyplace in the country, people have tough times. Some people are more fortunate than others. But thankfully we have people all across our State--like we have people all across America--who give of themselves so that those in difficult situations can receive the care they need.

Today I want to take you to Kotzebue, AK, or what we often just refer to as Kotz. Kotz is about 550 miles northwest of Anchorage, 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough. About 3,000 people live in Kotzebue. It is one of our bigger villages, and it is a hub for dozens of smaller villages that dot this enormous, beautiful region. Like most of Alaska, it is cold in the winter, and it is beautiful now under a never-setting Sun. The midnight Sun in Kotz is high in the sky. There are wonderful people there.

Like most places in Alaska, particularly in smaller villages in rural Alaska, community is everything. People take care of each other. People band together to help each other overcome challenges that can exist in the extreme environments we have in Alaska.

Let me tell my colleagues today about Marty Shroyer, who is one of the very generous residents of Kotzebue and who is our Alaskan of the Week. Born in Kotzebue, Marty is the general manager of Kotzebue Electric Association, where he has worked for more than 24 years. He has been married to his wife Lucy since 1977. They have six children and seven grandchildren. In his free time, he fishes--very common--plays hoops, and loves to cook for his family. He is also involved in the Boys and Girls Club and his Tribal government.

But here is why I want to talk about Marty and why he has been such an inspiration not only in Kotzebue but throughout the State. On Thanksgiving 2015, Marty got sick, and over the next several weeks, he had to go to the hospital repeatedly. While he was there, he noticed a group of people who would gather around the free coffee that was served at the hospital. He approached one of them, a woman named Jo-Ann, and asked a very simple question: “Why do you guys hang around here? What are you doing?”

She told him: “Well, we don't really have another place to go right now.''

This disturbed Marty greatly. At that time of year in Kotzebue, it can get down to 20 and 30 below zero--a difficult place.

“You guys must be hungry,” he said to Jo-Ann, and she said that they were. So the next day and the day after that--5 days a week--Marty and Lucy together used their own money and their own lunch hour during the workweek to make sandwiches--a simple act--30 to 40 sandwiches for that group at the hospital. Every day, every person who needs one gets a sandwich, sometimes turkey and cheese, sometimes caribou or sheefish spread. Marty is anxious for the salmon season to start so he can make salmon spread sandwiches. They also get a juice box and dessert. Simple but generous.

Recently, another generous Kotzebue resident, Sophie Foster, began making sandwiches as well, and before you know it, we have a whole community that is doing this, taking this simple example and getting involved. So now some people drop off cinnamon roles or fruit. Others bring back bulk items when they travel to Anchorage. Dozens of people in Kotzebue, AK, are now helping in this effort because of Marty's simple act.

People like Marty and his wife Lucy make my State truly unique and a wonderful place. His generosity--doing something seemingly so simple: making a sandwich for someone who is hungry--has now had a big impact not only in Kotzebue but in Alaska. Marty didn't know the impact he would have when he began making sandwiches. “I was just trying to help a few people that day, make them happier.”

Marty's actions have initiated a growing conversation in Kotzebue about how best to take care of people who need help. It has drawn attention to homelessness and hunger--very important issues not only in Alaska but throughout the country. Marty spurred this important conversation in Kotzebue and in our State through his simple actions, and that has inspired all of us.

Congratulations, Marty, for what you are doing, for your simple acts of inspiration, and for being our Alaskan of the Week.

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