By CIRI President & CEO Margie Brown

I reflect simply on what a blessing it is to have a home to return to at the end of the workday. With modern-day communication, most of us were able to watch from the safety of our homes as Hurricane Katrina surged ashore and slammed into the Gulf coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. We watched, too, as Hurricane Rita followed close behind, hitting the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana. The magnitude of losses and disruption to people's lives as a result of these back-to-back, powerful storms is staggering. In some way, we are all affected by these catastrophic events - even CIRI.

Soon after Katrina came ashore, CIRI's Shareholder Relations Department received notice that the United States Postal Service lost mail service to several locations and that it would not be able to deliver mail to these zip codes. We compared our list of shareholders with the Postal Service's and found that 12 CIRI shareholders use these zip codes in their addresses.

The Shareholder Relations Department began an attempt to reach each of these 12 shareholders. For days we could not make any contact at all, but day by day over the next two weeks we were able to contact them using everything from Internet leads and extended family contacts to reach them. All are safe, but many have sustained damage to, or in some cases complete loss of, their homes.

Last week as Hurricane Rita came ashore, the Shareholder Relations Department was again searching for CIRI shareholders. Guided by the Postal Service notification of lost zip codes, we identified six CIRI shareholders with no mail delivery. As we go to print we have been able to reach all six and all are safe. Although in one case, a home was totally destroyed.

After we found the shareholders we enlisted the help of Southcentral Foundation's Alaska Native Health Resource Advocate Program, which is located in the Seattle area. This branch of Southcentral Foundation's operations is working to connect affected CIRI shareholders with resources that may be able to help them.
CIRI is often described as a large extended family. It is as members of this extended family that we extend our wishes to our fellow CIRI shareholders and their families who have endured these storms and their aftermath. We wish for you to remain safe and find some normalcy in your lives once again.

The Alaska Native Health Resource Advocate Program helps Alaska Natives outside of Alaska connect with health, social, education, legal and other programs. Call them at (206) 575-6757 or toll-free at 866-575-6757 for more information.