KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – Cruise ship passengers have been hanging out at an Alaska homeless shelter to get free coffee and a bite to eat, but few have bothered making a donation, said one of the nonprofit’s board members.
Tourists in Ketchikan often stop by looking for a restroom, and some decide to stay longer, First City Homeless Services chairwoman Evelyn Erbele told the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on Monday.
“If we have a snack, they’ll take the snack and they’ll sit there and watch TV,” Erbele said. “It’s called ‘audacity,’ isn’t it?”
The shelter relies on donations and funding from the city and its borough, and it’s requesting more money from officials. Ketchikan is called the First City because it’s the first stop in southeast Alaska for ships traveling the Inside Passage.
Last year, 38 cruise ships stopped there, bringing 944,500 visitors to this community of 8,200 people, according to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau. The homeless shelter had 365 visitors that year.