EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another in a series of articles on the Peninsula Home Fund. Please print out the coupon linked to the Home Fund button at the right of the peninsuladailynews.com home page and include it with your donation.
HOH RESERVATION – The Hoh tribe lives on a road less traveled. The tribe’s 443-acre reservation in far western Jefferson County is surrounded by the beauty of the Olympic Mountains, Hoh River and the Pacific Ocean.
It is also remote – it’s an hour drive southwest of Forks and is miles away from a grocery store or gas station.
The difficulties of life there became glaringly apparent during the torrential rainstorm Dec. 3.
Gale-force winds knocked out electricity, closed the section of U.S. Highway 101 between Forks and the reservation and flooded the roads in and out of the reservation.
The reservation was completely cut off by the floods, and the power outage ruined all the refrigerated and frozen food on the reservation.
The Peninsula Daily News’ Peninsula Home Fund swung into action to help this community of about 250 people, including many children and senior citizens.
The Home Fund – a safety net for residents in Jefferson and Clallam counties when there is nowhere else to turn – was used to purchase 350 extra pre-packaged frozen senior citizen meals at a cost of $1,050 to supplement 3,000 pounds of dry and canned goods from Olympic Community Action Program’s food distribution center in Glen Cove, outside of Port Townsend.
A portion of the Home Fund is set aside each year to help the victims of disasters on our North Olympic Peninsula and is often used to supplement contributions from other sources.
