On a blustery January day in Nanwalek, the tribal council staff at the community center are occupied by a pleasant task: opening a giant box from the Share the Warmth program in Homer.
Vivian Ukatish and Alma Moonin tear the tape off and begin to remove coats, fleece jackets, woolen hats and sweaters.
"Oh, my – that sweater looks warm," Moonin says, touching a purple fleece pullover as she takes it from the box.
This village of 250 people across Kachemak Bay observes commercial and social links with Homer: it's a thriving community that shares its subsistence foods with the Homer Food Pantry in fall time. They buy their groceries and supplies from Homer. And in the dark of winter, such boxes as these arrive bearing coats from Homer.
Yet, unlike its neighbors, Nanwalek pays three times as much for heating fuel at $6.66 a gallon.
"It's been a long, hard winter. A lot of people are struggling with costs," said Second Tribal Chief James Kvasnikoff. "We got locked into those prices last fall when the cost of fuel was still high. We only get one fuel barge in the fall."
Nanwalek is one of the villages in line to receive 100 gallons per household from the Venezuelan government's fuel-giveaway program to Alaska Native villages. It meets the requirements of remoteness, as well as having a 70-percent Alaska Native population. However, not all recipients have to be tribal members, as even teachers and others can qualify.
One drum of heating fuel, 55 gallons, runs $366 in Nanwalek. A full 330-gallons, the size of most tanks in the village, is $2,197.80. This is the cost before adding the Kenai Peninsula Borough's 3-percent sales tax.
The same costs apply to gasoline needed for operating four-wheelers or the few village vehicles.
In an attempt to wean away from fossil fuels, much of the village switched from primary fuel-use to wood-burning stoves. "Wood heat is the primary source of heat to most homes," Kvasnikoff said. "It is a lot of work, but in the end it pays off. After big storms, the currents and waves wash in firewood, and people go out and gather it."
Storms also knock over big trees, and landowners generally give the trees to people wanting to cut them, he added.
But using fuel isn't entirely avoidable, Kvasnikoff said.
"The economy is down," he explained. "Unemployment is high, but homes need both sources of heat, because when you are not at home, the wood stoves are set at low temperature… the oil stove is a back up to maintain a set temperature."
"We use only wood to heat," said village resident Hans Peterson. "But it takes fuel to haul wood."
The Alaska Intertribal Council has looked at how to help people conserve fuel by switching over to wood, but the gift specification from Venezuela is for heating oil, AITC Administrator Delice Calcote said. "We know that is an issue - people use fuel to gather wood."
Getting to the wood - if permission to cut is granted from the landowner - isn't something everyone in the village can do. The village is surrounded by trees, with a good supply of timber for running wood-burning stoves. But there has to be someone available to do the work, noted elder Nick Tanape.
"Some of the wood we have to buy," he said.
Tanape lives in a 26-year-old house overlooking the wind-lashing bay. He figures that 100 gallons of fuel lasts about two months - at nearly $750. An energy rebate check, $1,200 from the state that was lumped into the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend last fall, bought about 150 gallons, he said.

Why so much?
Nanwalek's remoteness around the southernmost tip of the Kenai Peninsula brings lashing storms that frequently cut off transportation barges and airplanes that are trying to get in. The Sugpiak population is credited for keeping its ancient traditions in the face of a fast-changed world, in part because it is cut-off. The Alutiiq language is spoken widely, with a language immersion class incorporated into the school curriculum to ensure it is passed onto to youngsters. Traditional foods from bidarki to herring eggs to sea mammals remain a treasured part of their diets. Tanape and the young Gus Ukatish continue to hunt seal and sea lion to supply the village with meat. Together, they catch about 10 seals a year and a few sea lions. It's enough "to go everyone," Tanape said.
However, the isolation caused from its rocky sheaf outcrops and sudden storms also means villagers can't count on receiving barges year-round. At some point, fuel deliveries received once before storms set in seemed like the best way to ensure against running out, Kvasnikoff said.
"But it also locked us in a tight spot," he explained. "If we could have waited, the price of fuel would have gone down."
In nearby Port Graham, a six-mile rugged trek on trails behind Nanwalek, fuel costs $4.65-$4.90 for heating fuel and about $4.30-4.60 for gasoline at the Port Graham General Store. Port Graham also is in line to receive the Venezuelan fuel gift.
Seldovia, Port Graham's next nearest neighbor, offers fuel from $3.90 to $4.40, depending on whether it is No. 1 or No. 2 fuel, and differing in costs when cash or credit applies.
Both Port Graham and Seldovia receive more frequent fuel barge offloads throughout the winter months. Accessibility is one of the key differences - Petro Marine Fuel can access their less turbulent waterways after completing Homer deliveries.

Relief at hand
A new nickname is making the rounds at Nanwalek these days: "Uncle Hugo" was coined for Venezuelan President Hugo Chevaz.
"I don't know what we should call him, but he is nice to us," said Nick Tanape.
The Venezuelan fuel giveaway was announced Jan. 7. There was initially some confusion, said Alaska Intertribal Council Acting Director Steve Osburne, because of an earlier announcement that the government wasn't going to do the program this year.
But the program is on schedule this year for distribution sometime in February. AITC issues vouchers to the tribes, and when fuel is delivered, the vouchers are signed and returned to AITC for reimbursement.
Last year, the program served 16,000 households, Osburne said. Day care centers, Head Start, laundry facilities and other public buildings also are eligible for the fuel gift.
Among the 2008 American beneficiaries of the 100 gallons of heating oil were 65 Native American tribes, including those in Alaska, Montana and South Dakota.
Alejandro Granado, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Citgo Petroleum, the Venezuelan government's Houston-based oil subsidiary, said he discussed the plan to renew the program with Chavez on Jan. 6.
The decision "is the result of a strong commitment and a big effort on the part of Citgo and our shareholders in light of the current global financial crisis and its impact on the oil industry in general," Granado said in a press statement.
Back at the Tribal Council Offices, Vivian Ukatish has seen a steady stream of people arriving to try on coats and sweaters. Shyly they finger the "gently used" items, but most are slow to claim a coat that catches the eye.
"I've been on the phone calling everyone," she said, explaining that she's invited villagers to come get coats.
But it's not always easy to take the gifts others are giving out.
"For me, on this fuel issue, I think we're kind of hesitant," Alma Moonin said. "It seems kind of strange to take it from another country. What do we have to do? It's scary because what are they doing it for? But in the end, everyone is grateful. This second time around, I think we feel better about it."