Salvos doughnuts support residents through freezing Alaskan winters

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Major Jeff Josephson manages the doughnut shop in Hoonah, Alaska, with the support of his team.

Salvos Online’s Fay Foster visited Hoonah on a recent visit to Alaska and spoke with Major Jeff Josephson for today’s Global Focus report.

On Chichagof Island in Alaska lies the town of Hoonah, population 962. Accessible only by air or sea, Hoonah is a popular destination for tourists, who arrive on the many cruise ships that dock around the corner at Icy Strait Point.

During the summer, Hoonah is alive with workers and tourists. But in the winter, the weather is so severe that no one can go to work. The cruise boats don’t come, and all the businesses shut down.

Hoonah is located in an island chain in Alaska’s south, about 1250km north of the Canadian city of Vancouver.

The cost of utilities goes up as people try to heat their homes. From October to April, the whole population of Hoonah survives on unemployment benefits.

During these freezing months, the help and care of the Salvos is essential to the people of Hoonah, many of whom are isolated and find it difficult to afford food and other essentials.

As money earned during the summer runs low, the Salvos provide food boxes and rental assistance to residents.

During the warmer months, the Salvos raise these needed funds by operating a tiny doughnut shop, Lil’ Gen’s, selling mini doughnuts covered in flavoured sugar.

Thirty-six flavours are available, including cinnamon, maple-bacon, huckleberry, salted caramel, birthday cake, apple pie, pumpkin pie, lemon, peach-mango and coco-berry (coconut and blueberry). The doughnuts are sold in packs of six or 12 and are immensely popular with visitors. The shop also sells coffee, hot cocoa, and a few cold drinks.

Funds raised from selling the popular doughnuts in the northern summer, predominantly to tourists, provide an essential lifeline to local residents during the long winter months.

The doughnut shop has been in operation since 2016 and, since 2019, has been managed by Salvation Army officer Major Jeff Josephson with the help of dedicated part-time workers, who each work two days a week.

Jeff shares that he and his team are also able to pray for and with many of the tourists.

When the shop shuts its doors for the winter, the intensive work of winter caring for local individuals and families begins.

The Salvation Army USA Western Territory’s Caring Magazine profiled Majors Jeff and Michelle Josephson (then Captains) and their faith story and ministry in these two reports: