Food being packed by volunteers from area churches at the National Guard armory in Wasilla today. (ADN/Marc Lester)

UPDATE: A Samaritan's Purse official said the group is gathering food in Wasilla today as they prepare to visit the villages tomorrow. They plan to send out as many as four of their planes in the morning.

"We’re buying 44,000 pounds of groceries," said Luther Harrison, director of North American projects for the group.

What's Palin's role?

"She will be participating in the actual work of the food drop. Her goals are to help the specific individuals she will be seeing and to express moral support for all of those in similar circumstances," wrote Bill McAllister, her state spokesman.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

Gov. Sarah Palin just announced she'll head to the Western Alaska villages of Marshall and Russian Mission tomorrow, and that she's going with the Rev. Franklin Graham -- president of the evangelical Christian aid group Samaritan's Purse.

Graham is the son of evangelist Billy Graham and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Here's how Samaritan's Purse describes itself on its Web site: An "international Christian relief and evangelism organization (that) provides spiritual and physical aid to victims of war, poverty, natural disaster and disease."

(A recent newsletter is all about the group's aid to Sudan. They have a field office in Soldotna and built houses in Hooper Bay after that village's massive fire.)

Daily News columnist Beth Bragg wrote about Graham's Alaska ties in 2006.

In a September opinion piece in the ADN, Kenai Peninsula College professor Alan Boraas questioned Graham's role in Palin's appointment of Chuck Kopp as public safety commissioner.

Graham has been controversial. Here's a 2006 profile from USA Today, Billy Graham's son takes the pulpit, his own way, that describes the controversy, and his response, after his post-9/11 remark that Islam is "a very evil and wicked religion."

UPDATE: Sen. Mark Begich is in Bethel today with Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, for a teleconference with people from several villages "to talk about BIA funds, stimulus, etc," Begich spokeswoman Julie Hasquet said in an e-mail.

The villages are Emmonak, Tuluksak, Kotlik, Chevak and Kalskag, she wrote.

For latecomers, here's a round-up of stories on the reports of a fuel and food crisis in the region:

-- Letter tells personal side of Emmonak's fuel crisis (ADN)

-- In rural Alaska, villagers suffer in near silence (L.A. Times)

-- In rural Alaska villages, families struggle to survive (CNN)

Here's the press release from Palin's office:

Governor, Lt. Governor to Travel to Western Alaska

February 19, 2009, Juneau, Alaska - Following up on several trips to Western Alaska by multi-agency state personnel, Governor Sarah Palin and Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell will travel with Franklin Graham, President and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, to the communities of Marshall and Russian Mission on Friday. Samaritan's Purse is a nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid across the world. Working with private sector and nonprofit resources, an estimated 10,000 pounds of food will be distributed to more than 200 Alaska families in need.

For several weeks the administration has been working with residents on the Lower Yukon in an attempt to identify their eligibility for various aid programs for communities and individuals. Five state departments and the governor’s rural affairs advisor, John Moller, are involved in the immediate relief effort, and are currently visiting communities across the region.

Faith-based, nonprofit groups, such as Samaritan’s Purse, have partnered with state agencies and have been instrumental in providing assistance to Western Alaska in recent weeks. The Department of Public Safety has utilized its aircraft to deliver food collected from around the state by faith-based and other nonprofit organizations. The Department of Public Safety is working with the Department of Education and Early Development personnel in implementing a plan to provide bulk foods to area residents.

Additionally, state benefit specialists from the Department of Health and Social Services visited Emmonak recently and enrolled individuals in several existing public assistance programs. The Department of Fish and Game has expanded the moose-hunting season for residents, and is also reviewing concerns with the commercial king salmon fishery that many Lower Yukon River residents depend on for a substantial portion of their income.

The governor’s trip to Western Alaska, coupled with work on the economic stimulus certification requirements and budget amendments, will prevent her from attending the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C., this weekend.