For years “Nauyaq” Wanda Baltazar has been teaching infants in Kotzebue through a local program that serves children with disabilities or delayed development. It’s the only such Infant Learning Program in the state that's based out of a school district. The Northwest Arctic Borough School district receives state grant funding to oversee the ILP program.
Baltazar said it’s about helping kids from birth to three years-old and their families around the Maniilaq service area, which covers 12 communities in Northwest Alaska from Kotzebue to Kobuk.
“Working with birth to 3, it’s always good about helping families, ensuring that they’re strong, supported," she said. "And any way we can support families and nursing moms to help their babies grow, I think is great.”
Baltazar and Frances Williams, the local school secretary from Ambler, are bringing their experience working with children to Kodiak Kindness as they continue doing what they already do, but under the new title of peer counselors.
Williams, who is known in her hometown as the “village mother,” said being part of the organization will give her more support and tools to do things she already does on a regular basis in the Northwest Arctic community.
“Kodiak Kindness would be able to help because there’s a lot of things that I learned when we went to the trainings, yeah, things that we didn’t know," Williams said. "So all the training will be able to help, like I’ll be able to do my own mix with Kodiak Kindness and my Inupiaq traditions," she explained.
Williams said she uses native plants like stinkweed or spruce trees to make salves or other traditional medicines to help her friends, family and neighbors heal from the land. Aside from the traditional knowledge Williams has from her mom and aunties, she’ll also be able to help her community with virtual assistance from a certified lactation consultant, if she wants support from the Kodiak Kindness team via telehealth.
Kodiak Kindness has served roughly 3,000 families since 2006. And many Alaskans with newborns still need support and someone who cares during what can be a challenging time in their lives. Baltazar said she herself had a hard time when she was trying to nurse her own child years ago.
“So when I had my first child, I went to my aunt’s house [in Anchorage]. She totally took me in. I was crying, my baby was crying and she just said, ‘okay, you’re okay. I’m going to make you some tea. We’re going to sit here and we’re going to talk about this and I’m going to help you,'" Baltazar recalled. "And very lovingly she showed me how to nurse my baby. My emotions calmed down, it was a natural setting.”
Baltazar said that Kodiak Kindness brings that kind of natural loving feeling and setting with every home visit.
Jennifer Sheridan, the services coordinator with Kodiak Kindness, has experienced one of those home visits herself. She said she went to the organization for help when she moved to the island in 2013 with a three-month-old baby and now she works as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) with the nonprofit.
Heather Preece, who founded Kodiak Kindness nearly 20 years ago with this idea in mind, said it has long been a goal of hers to expand the organization beyond Kodiak.
“It’s the infant feeding is the topic that opens the door and lets us in. And then it really is about support and confidence and reassurance and the sense of community, regardless of how babies are fed, regardless of where anyone is from, we’re all parents wanting the best for our children," she said.
Kodiak Kindness isn’t able to directly provide baby formula to families, but it can help with the aspects of bottle feeding, how to mix formula, what types of formula a baby might thrive on if a family is formula feeding. The organization also does home visits and hosts infant nutrition workshops on the island, among other services, for free.
But as Preece said, Kodiak Kindness is about more than just breastfeeding or formula feeding or even infant development
“Yes we talk about all of those things, but what people come away from, what the family feels, and what they voice or express, is the main thing about Kindness is that we were there for them.”
Kodiak Kindness’ two new peer counselors in the Northwest Arctic Borough come online this winter and hope to start enrolling families in the region early next year. For anyone seeking services or help from the nonprofit, you can call 907 539 2660 or go online to https://kodiakkindness.org/.
