You can begin mailing your personal items to the school you are assigned. There is a person at each school assigned to pick up boxes and deliver them to the school. Being at the school, they are in a safe place. If you do not put the school address on your boxes, the rural post offices will send them back. They don’t have storage space to hold boxes for any length of time. When you get to your site, your boxes can be picked up and brought to your housing unit. You will want to address your boxes as follows:

"Your Name"
C/O "School Name"
General Delivery
Village Name, AK ZIP

Example:

Barbara Andrew
C/O Aleknagik School
General Delivery
Aleknagik, AK 99555

You may want to send them insured in case of damage or loss. The U.S. Postal service accepts packages weighing up to 70 lbs. As a general rule, the heavier the box, the cheaper the postage. For example, two boxes weighing 5 lbs will cost as much or more then a single box weighing 10 lbs. It’s important to tape and label your boxes clearly.

You will want to mail most everything you are going to need or plan to purchase it via the internet with a site that offers free shipping (not everything will ship to Alaska though). Traveling with large suitcases cost a lot of extra money. Here in rural Alaska, you have to either bring it with you, ship it ahead or order it when you get here.