Fairbanks priest Anna Frank honored for public service, prison ministry outreach
Episcopal News Service. November 9, 2009 [110909-08]
ENS staff
The Ven. Anna Frank, archdeacon of the Interior for the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska, was awarded the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) President's Award for Public Service for her years of public service and prison outreach ministry.
Frank described the ministry to hundreds of delegates at an awards dinner during AFN's statewide convention in October. Former Alaska Bishop Mark MacDonald asked her to accompany him to the Red Rock Correctional Center six years ago.
About 800 Alaskans are incarcerated at Red Rock, a medium-security prison in Eloy, Arizona. When Frank returned to Fairbanks, she began fundraising and writing letters to make arrangements for a return visit.
That first year, she raised enough funds for half a dozen family members to visit Red Rock prisoners. Word spread among prisoners who contacted family members in Alaska, and Frank began getting letters and phone calls from both.
"Last October, over 20 family members participated in an organized visit -- one of whom was a teenage girl who did not remember her father, who had been incarcerated since she was a baby," AFN officials wrote of Frank on the organization's website. "It was heartwarming and uplifting to witness family bonds being strengthened during the visit. This is Anna's ministry."
Frank, 70, has served as Minto postmaster, a health aide, drug and alcohol counselor and in various roles as an Episcopal priest. She was ordained a deacon in 1974 and on Oct. 1 celebrated 26 years as a priest. She has served on diocesan staff for the past 15 years.
She was born in Minto in 1938, one of 13 children of Jonathan and Rosie David. She was raised living a subsistence lifestyle. In 1955, she married Richard Frank in Fairbanks.
They are parents of Roxanne, Darrell, Parker and Robin, grandparents of eight and great-grandparents to one. In 2005, they were named Elders of the Year.
AFN is the largest native organization in Alaska, with a membership that includes 178 villages (both federally-recognized tribes and village corporations), 13 regional Native corporations and 12 regional nonprofit and tribal consortiums that contract and run federal and state programs.
AFN's mission is to enhance and promote the cultural, economic and political voice of the entire Alaska Native community.