Our Mission Statement: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future

At Sunshine Community Health Center, our mission statement has always been more than just words on paper — it’s been a compass guiding our decisions, shaping our priorities, and reminding us why we exist. It’s a touchstone for our team and a promise to our community.

For many years, our mission statement read:

Sunshine Community Health Center is committed to accessible, proactive, quality healthcare, promoting community wellness through outreach and education.

This statement, crafted with the insight and dedication of our original community members, has served us well. It was built from the ground up, reflecting the vision of the people who saw the need for accessible, proactive, quality care in rural Alaska and set out to make it a reality. Under this mission, we’ve expanded services, strengthened partnerships, and deepened our roots in the communities we serve. We want to thank and honor everyone who played a role in creating these words that have shaped the success and growth of our organization over the years.

As we’ve grown, so have the ways we express our purpose. This year, members of our current Sunshine CHC team worked together to refine our mission into something more concise, while keeping the heart and spirit intact. We wanted a statement that’s easier to remember, quick to share, and still captures the essence of what we do.

After thoughtful discussion and collaboration, we’re proud to share our new mission statement:

These eight words carry a lot of meaning. “Community-driven” reflects that we don’t just work in our communities — we work with them, shaping services based on local needs and voices. “Strength and resilience” honors the character of rural Alaskans, whose determination inspires us every day. And “rooted” reminds us that we’re not just visitors here — we are part of these communities, growing alongside them.

This new mission statement is already a part of our daily rhythm. At the start of every management meeting, we read our mission aloud. It sets our intentions for the conversation ahead and grounds us in the reasons we’re here: to serve, to support, and to make our communities healthier, stronger, and more connected.

To those who helped shape our original mission — thank you for giving us a clear and meaningful starting point that has guided us through years of growth. And to those who worked hard to refine it — thank you for crafting a statement that will carry us into the future, strong in purpose and proud of our roots.

Our mission may have fewer words now, but its impact is greater than ever.

💬 We’d love to hear from you — what does our new mission statement mean to you?

Sunshine Community Health Center

1-907-376-2273 (CARE)

www.sunshineclinic.org

*This article was written with the support of AI*