hen a fire destroyed the village of Tuluksak’s water purification plant and washeteria in mid-January, it took a community of businesses from all around the state to transport bottles of water and other vital necessities to the village until the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation was able to restore continuous access to drinking water with a reverse osmosis water filtration system.

When the pandemic continued to threaten villages throughout rural Alaska, the community stepped up again with groups from federal, state, and local organizations working together to coordinate efforts to roll the vaccine out to some of the state’s most remote locations. Using local knowledge and some serious logistics, this state’s community of businesses, healthcare providers, friends, and neighbors helped prevent a fragile healthcare system from being overwhelmed. And yes, this was a new challenge, a new virus, but Alaska has been working with tribal health organizations to distribute vaccinations to its remote communities for years, the community was already in place, and that allowed for more rapid vaccine distribution, points out Robert Onders, state liaison for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in this month’s article about rural vaccine distribution, “46 Villages in 10 Days.”

This issue of Alaska Business features our annual transportation special section (complete with directory) and while these stories are about transportation and logistics, they’re really about community and the power of people working together toward a common goal.

We know that the place we call home is unique in ways we are still discovering and requires a lot of each of us to carve out a life here. And we also know that whatever it requires, it’s worth it, not just because of the natural beauty that surrounds us and abundant freedom to make of your life what you want, but because of the unmatched generosity of spirit of its residents. Because we live in a thriving community that knows that our lives here are intertwined and, simply put, we need each other to survive.

It’s a beautiful thing to see business “rivals” such as DesertAir, Ryan Air, Yute Commuter Service, and Ravn Alaska working together toward one common goal of helping neighbors in need. Even multinational corporations and long-time, established competitors like PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Alaska recognize the notion of being stronger together and teamed up in partnership with Ravn Alaska to donate 6,000 pounds of water to Tuluksak.

A community is much more than a location. Sure, there are neighborhoods and cities, towns and provinces everywhere you go, but what makes a community is the people. Alaska’s community is unbreakable and unstoppable because it doesn’t take a crisis for us to be there for each other, we just are. And we can thank the Alaska Native people whose values of showing respect to others, sharing what you have, taking care of others, and recognizing that all things are connected created the foundation upon which this state’s community was built.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this month’s issue focused on the power of people getting things done together. Today, we’re stronger than ever, together.