In the most remote parts of Alaska, you don’t rely on DoorDash to get Thanksgiving dinner – or any other dinner – delivered. But some residents living far off the grid still have turkeys this holiday, thanks to the Alaska Turkey Bomb.
For the third year in a row, a resident named Esther Keim is flying slowly and low in a small plane over rural areas of south-central Alaska, dropping frozen turkeys to those who can’t just run to the south-central Alaska. grocery store.
Alaska is largely wilderness, with only about 20% accessible by road. In winter, many people living in isolated areas use small planes or snowmobiles to travel any distance, and frozen rivers can serve as makeshift roads.
Alaska Gear Company via AP
When Keim was growing up on a farm in Alaska, a family friend would drop turkeys to his family and others nearby for the holidays. Other times the pilot delivered newspapers, sometimes with a pack of gum inside for Keim.
His family moved to a more urban area of Alaska nearly 25 years ago, but still owns the property. Using a small plane she had rebuilt with her father, Keim began her turkey delivery mission a few years ago after learning that a family living on neighboring land didn’t have much money. thing for Thanksgiving dinner.
“They told me that a squirrel for dinner wasn’t shared very far between three people,” Keim remembers. “At that point I thought… ‘I’m going to throw them a turkey.'”
She decided not to stop there. Her efforts grew through word of mouth and social media posts. This year, she’s delivering 32 frozen turkeys to people living year-round in roadless cabins.
Mountain Mind Media/Alaska Gear Company via AP
All but two had been delivered by Tuesday, with delivery plans for the final two birds thwarted by Alaska’s unpredictable weather.
Among the beneficiaries are Dave and Christina Luce, who live on the Yentna River, about 45 miles northwest of Anchorage. They offer stunning mountain views in all directions, including North America’s highest mountain, Denali, directly to the north. But in the winter, it’s a 90-minute snowmobile ride to the nearest town, which they do about once a month.
“I’m 80 now, so we’re doing fewer and fewer trips,” Dave Luce said. “The adventure kind of disappeared.”
They have known Keim since she was little. The 12-pound (5.44-kilogram) turkey she delivered will be more than enough for them and a few neighbors.
“It’s a great Thanksgiving,” Dave Luce said. “She’s a real sweetheart and a very good friend.”
Keim makes 30 to 40 turkey deliveries a year, flying up to 100 miles (161 kilometers) from his base north of Anchorage toward the Denali foothills.
Sometimes she calls in a “turkey dropper” to go with her and throw the birds out. Other times, she’s the one releasing turkeys while her friend Heidi Hastings flies her own plane.
Esther Keim via AP
Keim buys about 20 turkeys at a time, thanks to donations, usually from people contacting her through Facebook. She wraps them in plastic trash bags and lets them sit in the bed of her van until she can arrange a flight.
“Luckily it’s cold in Alaska, so I don’t have to worry about freezers,” she said.
She contacts families on social media to let them know about impending deliveries, then they vibrate the house for the owners to come out.
“We won’t drop the turkey until we see it come out of the house or shed, because if they don’t see it drop, they won’t know where to look,” she said.
It can be especially difficult to find the turkey if there is deep snow. A turkey went missing for five days before being found, but the only casualty so far was a lost ham, Keim said.
Keim prefers to place the turkey on a frozen lake if possible so it is easy to locate.
“When it comes to accuracy and hitting our target, I’m definitely not the best target,” she joked. “I got better, but I never hit a house, building, person or dog.”
Her reward is the positive reactions she receives from her families, some who film her dropping the turkeys and send her videos and texts of appreciation.
“They just think it’s so great that we’re throwing these things out of the plane,” Keim said.
Eventually, she hopes to create a nonprofit to solicit more donations and reach people in a larger part of the state. And it doesn’t have to stop with turkeys.
“There are so many children in the villages,” she says. “It would be cool to add maybe a stuffed animal or something they can hold.”
