Three hard-working Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta leaders are receiving vacations funded by the Rasmuson Foundation.
Every year the Rasmuson Foundation funds sabbaticals for Alaska non-profit and tribal leaders. The foundation pays the recipients’ organizations $40,000 for their employee to take three to six months off work to unplug, rest, and rejuvenate. For 2020, three of the seven awardees are from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
In Emmonak, Lenora Hootch is the executive director of the Emmonak Yup’ik Women’s Coalition, and founder of the Emmonak Women’s Shelter. She told Rasmuson that she’s never had a “typical vacation,” and plans to use her time off to travel with her husband and grandchildren, as well as do parka sewing.
In Chuathbaluk, Tribal Administrator Tracy Simeon also plans to use her sabbatical to travel, as well as recharge and spend time with her family, including her young son.
And the third sabbatical goes to Oscarville Tribal Administrator Michael Stevens, who is considering using his sabbatical to take his family to California’s Disneyland. He also wants to make improvements on his new home by installing landscaping, building a steam house, creating a new fish camp, and doing more subsistence activities, like hunting, fishing, and berry picking.
