Franklin Graham visited Sarah Palin in Alaska on Friday

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Via the all-seeing BooneWeb, the Alaska Dispatch has the story:

After weeks of criticism for allegedly not responding soon enough to fuel and food shortages in some Alaska communities, Gov. Sarah Palin has now decided she will visit a few of the struggling villages for herself. And not only that: Palin has invited a Christian relief group, run by the son of evangelist Billy Graham, to come along with her to help Alaska Natives.

The group is called Samaritan’s Purse, which describes itself on its website as an “international Christian relief and evangelism organization” that “provides spiritual and physical aid to victims of war, poverty, natural disaster, and disease.”

In a press release Thursday, the administration said Palin and Lt. Gov. 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,” the press release says. “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.”

This response seems to kill two birds with one stone: Palin can finally say she visited the frontlines of the rural crisis, and she can hobnob with one of America’s more influential evangelists, shoring up her political base with Christians across the nation who have been among her biggest supporters.