CREMS Thanks You!

CREMS annual budget requires more than $500,000/year to provide reliable, quality 24/7/365 Advanced Life Support EMS for the entire Copper River Service Area.  This budget estimate does not include a new ambulance or other large equipment purchases but does include day-to-day operations, stipends for volunteers, and salaries for three Full-Time paid medic positions (in rotation so that one paid medic will always be on-call). 
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Updated July 1, 2025:   The Fiscal Year 2025 totals are in!  Thanks to everyone for the tremendous support over the past 12 months!!  Here is the breakdown for our donations and other revenue from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025:

$58,995 - CAP funds
$89,550 - Donations from individuals, families, small businesses
$25,000 - Ahtna, Inc.
$334,289 - Grants (State, Federal, & Private)
$21,500 - Service Contracts
$68,745 - Ambulance Transport revenue

​Thank you all for supporting local EMS.  Your donations have allowed us to achieve our fundraising goal for small businesses, local organizations, CAP funds, and individual donors!!

Thanks to everyone who has donated and contributed and please keep the support flowing!  Every donation makes a difference and in less than 2 short months the annual donation tally will reset to zero when we begin a new fiscal year on July 1, 2025.

Individual & Family Donors: 
Cliff Eames, Julie Leeper, Ron and Jeannine Cheever, Kelly & Natalie Bay, Tamara Harper, Brenda & Dana Becker, William Novoteny, Scott Hill, Linda & Jeremy Weld, J Brown, Larry & Maureen St. Amand, Gloria Stickwan, Laurie & Brian Blair, Chris Morley, Wendy Johnson, Lauren Komp, Barbara Cellarius, Jan Shramek, Suann Hart, Carla Higendorf and Mike Tucker, George Gumfory, Carol & Ben Compton, the Leeper Family, Terry and Sally Keizer, Lanette Phillips, Susan Smith, Lorraine Kramer, Martin and Tana Finnesand, Maurice and Vickie Springer, Kathy Stratton, Glenna Dufresne, Ralph and Jan Morehouse, Verna Zastrow, Lorraine Radigan, Jim and Mary Odden, Elizabeth Vollema, Alysia Hancock, Jacob & Marlena Maxwell, Joshua Stoveken, Dave & Gay Wellman, Al Smith, Aline Stevenson, David & Tracy Coon, John Eaton, Sally Carter, Kathy Gearhart, Dennis Kananowicz, Sue Moore, Tony & Julie Knutson, Russ & Sherri Scribner, Tamara & Denton Hamby, William & Bonnie McLeod, James & Salley Rothmeyer, Shailen Pratap, Marvin Obermiller, Angela Vermillion, Cheryl Smith, Carol Catledge, Robin Mayo, Kurtis Skoog, Robert & Emilie Frisbie, Paul Boos & Janelle Eklund, Delbert Simineo, Jessica Smith, Mike & Jeanne Staso, Stadtmiller Family, Bruce & Kari Rodgers, Sherman Stebbins, Henri and Marcia Milette, Marian Lightwood, Nashlund-Morse Family, Mike McQueen & Meg Jensen, George Gumfory, Mike & Sue Roscovious, Linda Rutledge, Meredith Noble, Robin Mayo, Ruth McHenry & Cliff Eames, Elizabeth Schaeffer, Emily McCarthy, Bob & Linda Flint, Charlie & Cathy Perrett, and the Fiebig Family.  

We also received $174 in cash donations at the May 2024 Chamber Dinner Meeting, $254 in cash donations at the Fireweed Festival, $88 in cash donations at the Gulkana Airport Day, over $900 in donations for raffle tickets purchased at the 2024 Kenny Lake Fair, and over $400 in online raffle tickets and auction bids for tickets to the the Get Fluffy comedy show.

CAP funds, Small Businesses, Organizations, and Village Councils:
Special thanks to the Nelchina-Mendeltna Corp and Association of Tazlina Residents for recent contributions from their Community Assistance Program (CAP) funds to CREMS, the Northern Life Church, Native Village of Kluti-Kaah, Copper Basin Pregnancy Center, Association of Tazlina Area Residents, American Legion Gladys M. Heintz Memorial Post, Kenny Lake Community League, Copper Valley Community Library Association, Tazlina Fellowship, CVEA Community Foundation, Native Village of Tazlina, Chitina Traditional Indian Village Council, Gulkana Village Council, Copper Basin Sanitation, Wenger's Country Store (Jenny Tschappat-Case & Kelly Smith), Copper Valley Air, MoonTide Design (Kari Odden), Tonsina River Lodge, Casa De La Arte (Naomi Young), New To You (Heike Wilmoth),  AKWild1 LLC (Ray Volley), Willow Lake B&B (Jim & Linda Marchini), Wrangell Institute for Science & Environment (WISE), ASEA Local 52, and Balance Psychotherapy.  
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We’ll update this list periodically and sincerely apologize if we have omitted any names.

Special thanks to Ahtna, Inc. for its generous $25,000 contributions in both FY25 and again this year, FY26. 

Special thanks to CRNA for its ongoing support of CREMS in securing and sharing grant funds to support EMS training.  Over the past 4 years, CRNA has shared over $400,000 in federal grant funding with CREMS to help provide the critical local EMS training that has allowed CREMS to provide an Advanced Life Support ambulance service with all local volunteers and paid medics.

Special thanks to the Tazlina Fellowship for their unsolicited $9,000 donation to cover the full cost of repairs for our longest serving ambulance, a 2003 F450.

Special thanks to the Northern Light Ministries for their unsolicited $20,000 donation to CREMS to support our ongoing operations. 

Special thanks to the Alaska Community Foundation which awarded CREMS $9,920 in FY25 and $5,000 in FY26 to support EMS training for our Responders and local residents. 

Special thanks to Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities which awarded CREMS with a $150,000 grant that will enhance roadway safety and EMS services in the Copper River Region. 

CREMS also received a one-time sponsorship in FY25 from the State of Alaska Dept. of Health, Division of Public Health, Rural & Community Health Systems, Office of EMS.

CREMS has re-established an EMS contract with the Mat-Su Borough Dept. of Emergency Services for CREMS to formally provide Ambulance service to the end of the Lake Louise Road that lies within MSB boundaries.

CREMS will continue to seek funding and donations from a wide variety of sources throughout the State, nationwide, and locally. This, of course, will also include local businesses, both big and small, as well as local residents. 

​Rejected: 
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Although CREMS prefers to acknowledge and appreciate those who support us, we also believe there are some situations when it is important for folks to know that our requests for support have been denied--especially when it may impact the services we are able to provide in the future.

​CREMS will continue to vigorously pursue a small share of the $500,000 in annual federal Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT Act) funding that the State of Alaska distributes to the Copper River Census Area.  This funding would normally be provided to an incorporated municipality, county, parish, or borough to support any valid government use.  However, because the Copper River Census area is the only census area in Alaska’s unorganized borough that does not have an entity with taxing authority, the State Dept. of Revenue gives the entire $500,000 to the Copper River School District (and an additional $50,000 to the Gateway School District by virtue of the Mentasta Lakes school being in the Copper River Census Area).  CREMS does not wish to be the grinch that stole Christmas and siphon funds away from the CRSD.  But, we do see local 911 ambulance service as a critical resource for this region and EMS is clearly a valid use for a small portion of those funds.

The multi-billion-dollar Holland America Princess (HAP) Corporation declined to provide any financial support for CREMS to provide EMS service for the guests and employees of the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge (CRPWL).  The VP of AK/Yukon Land Operations for HAP informed CREMS that HAP leadership chose not to support EMS in the Copper River service area because CRPWL has staff available to transport their guests and employees to a clinic for medical care when needed.   Considering that there have already been 3 x 911 EMS dispatches for the CRPWL in 2024 and CREMS has no legal or statutory obligation to respond to the CRPWL campus, CREMS will renew discussions with HAP over the winter and re-evaluate the services we are able to offer for the CRPWL based on the outcome of those discussions. 
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The Paxson Community Affairs organization received $37,619 of CAP funding from the State of Alaska in FY23 and has requested $59,525 for FY 24 CAP funding.  When CREMS contacted the Paxson Community Affairs officer listed on their CAP application by telephone, he hung-up on CREMS mid-sentence when the topic of supporting EMS with CAP funds was brought up.  CREMS plans to re-evaluate its service area in 2025 and may exclude Paxson and the Denali Hwy if there is no support for our services from that area.