HUMAN

Name: Scott Jenkins

Age: 57

Residence: Waco, Texas

Occupation: I’m a Mechanical Engineer for L3Harris

Years involved with the Iditarod: 12 years

Iditarod Role: I am the Project Coordinator for the Alaska Missions volunteers that come. We provide a lot of the labor to run the finish line area, the dog lot, the security, and other things for the Iditarod.

Current Location: Nome, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 16, 2022

Temperature: 10F Outdoors/68F Indoors at Iditarod Headquarters

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

I got involved with the Iditarod in 2010. I came up to work with Alaska Missions as a volunteer myself and served helping run the finish line area, and have been involved ever since.

What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?

I’m here today and involved with the Iditarod because I have literally fallen in love with the people and the culture here in Nome, particularly the native culture. And they’re my heart people, so I love to come up here and serve both the Iditarod and the community as well while I’m here, and all through the year.

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences.

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences happened when I was making snow machine runs back and forth to the safety checkpoint, which is the last checkpoint on the Iditarod trail. It’s 22 miles out of Nome. And to get there you go along the coast and you climb over Cape Nome and then you go back down to the coast and get to the Roadhouse. In the process of doing that several years ago, my buddy and I, that was traveling with me that day, we were climbing Cape Nome, and we met a musher up on the top of Cape Nome who was very concerned about their dogs. They had one dog that was not doing as well as the others. And they were down close to the lowest number of dogs they could have to come in. And he was concerned about whether to keep the dog going or put it in the bag and risk being eliminated.
And so, he was very distraught about the whole situation and he was tired, and lack of sleep does things to you that you wouldn’t normally do. And because of the situation, he was really ready to just toss in the towel. And my buddy, Kimmer, got off his snow machine, got down in the snow with the gentleman and put his arm around him and gave him the best coach pep talk I’ve ever heard in my entire life. And I’ve played sports my entire life. And he got the gentleman back up on his sled and back into town, and we were able to meet him at the finish line. And he was so thankful for meeting us there on the mountain that day. And that’s part of why I do what I do here, because I try to meet needs and break down walls that allow people to come together. And that’s what I do here, and I’m thankful that I was able to be there that day for that event.

What in life do you know for sure?

The question is, what in life do you know for sure? And what I know for sure in life is that, for me, Jesus Christ makes all the difference in my life. And that’s part of why I’m here, because this is a place where I can share my faith as I go and just show people what it looks like to meet someone who truly believes that Jesus makes a difference in their life. And that’s what Alaska Missions is all about. And that’s why we do what we do here, is to meet needs and break down walls and show people that there can be a difference, and what it looks like to be that, in person. And so, I know for a fact that he makes a difference in my life and I hope he does in others as well.