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Day 4 in Alaska - This day was big. 9 people traveled on a little puddle jumper from Bethel to Hooper Bay and Chevak to visit almost 900 students. At Hooper Bay, we met with roughly 475 students from K-12. We spent over 4.5 hours chatting to kids about resources and opportunities to help make their dreams come true.

Then we travels to Chevak. Due to weather and extra time spent at Hooper Bay, we had to change our strategy for Chevak. We landed 30 mins before school got out and had to pass out the supplies as the students were leaving. While the circumstances were out of our control, it was great to see some smiling faces and get big hugs.

Something that is common between these two villages, education is the center focus. Driving through the street is a stark contrast to the bright colors and constant positivity that floods the hallways of the schools. Teachers are invested in their students and staff work hard to use their resources to help paint bright futures for these kids.

We returned back to Bethel to catch our flight back to Anchorage where we are wrapping up our trip. Thank you to everyone who donated their time, money and voice to help make this Backpack Campaign a huge success. #yulistaCARES #giveback #outreach #alaska #travel #explore #gooutside #volunteer #nonprofit ...

#yulistaCARES had a busy August!

First, we had the Alaska trip to deliver almost 400 backpack full of school supplies to students. As well as fully supply 24 teachers and staff with a year’s worth of supplies.

Second, we started our local school supply drop-offs with various nonprofit and community programs. We also prepped roughly 500 backpacks to go to New Jersey, Hawaii, Texas and New Mexico.

Third, we launched our Employee Wellness Program. We partnered with heartalabama to host a series of weekly Lunch & Learns. Topics included Hands Only CPR, Building a Healthy Lifestyle and Mental Health in the Workplace. We also offered a Heart Healthy lunch option in our cafeteria with recipes from AHA.

Fourth, we volunteered with drmhuntsville for their annual Glow Run. Volunteers helped participants with parking and packets.

I am so proud of our members and the amazing yulistaholdingllc CARES Board I get to work with. We all have a big heart for giving back & we have so much in store for the future! #yulistacares #giveback ...

These photos aren’t glamorous. They are of beautiful scenery or delicious food. No smiling friends laughing over a fun experience.

However, these are some of the most important photos from our trip. If you don’t know, the sole purpose of the trip to Alaska was to delivery backpacks, dental kits, school supplies and warm weather gear to teachers and students in local villages that don’t have access to them or can’t afford to have them.
Take a moment to look at the prices of some of these items. It’s mind boggling to think about.

Yesterday, we flew to Bethel, Alaska. A small tundra village located on the inland bowl where we were gathered our supplies, met with our additional team members and gathered supplies.
(I’ll share more about Bethel later.) It was our place to regroup before we depart today.

Here is the reason we are in Alaska. Over the month of June, we held a fundraiser for backpacks and supplies to be donated to kids all over the country through YulistaCARES. Thanks to the generosity of our employees, we raised enough to purchase a years worth of supplies for every single teacher/staff at each school we are going to as well as backpacks and supplies for every kid (that’s 24 teachers and just under 400 kids!)

So today, we get to pack up our little seaplane and fly to each village. We get to meet the staff & teachers, play with kids and spend time really pouring to love into these villages. I have a feeling this is going to be a day we’ll never forget. #backpackcampaign #yulistacares #giveback #alaska #travel #adventure ...

We are committed to serving our neighbors, partners, and Alaska Shareholders. This month, five of our team members traveled to Kasigluk, Atmautluak, Oscarville, and Napakiak in the Lower Kuskokwim area, hand-delivering backpacks to five schools in the district. Many of these villages face challenges in accessing the tools needed for their education. Together, we`re making a difference—one backpack at a time! #YCBC24 #TeamYulista #YulistaCARES #ANC ...

Team members from YulistaCARES #HuntsvilleAL recently delivered backpacks to 4 local non-profits and 4 schools including: North Alabama Foster Closet, @uwmadisoncounty, @ncac_hsv, @drmhuntsville, Legacy Elementary, ASFL Elementary, Farley Elementary, and Woodville High School.

We want to thank our Huntsville community for bringing joy and resources to young learners by supporting our annual backpack campaign. We couldn`t do it without you! #YulistaCARES #YCBC24

See the complete round-up of the 2024 YulistaCARES Backpack Campaign here: https://yulista.com/yulista-backpack-campaign/ ...

Day 3 - Yesterday, we started our 48 hour trek to the villages. First step, traveling to Bethel to meet up with the rest of the Team that will be joining us on our flight to the Northern Villages, Chevak & Hooper Bay.

Bethel is a connection point for a lot of the smaller villages to acquire food and other supplies not necessarily accessible to them locally. People take small planes or charters to get supplies. While, we all feel like the price of food and household items might have increased back home, this is a stark comparison - $41 for Paper Towels, $17 for Mandarin Oranges, and $11 for Color Pencils.

While Bethel is located on the Kuskoquim River, much of the land is Tundra. If you’ve never walked on Tundra before, it’s squishy. Think of walking on Marshmallows or a Water Bed. This is wonderful place to go Berry picking.

In a few hours, we’ll board our little plane to get ready for our journey to Chevak and Hooper Bay to begin the reason for our trip, delivering school supplies and hats to roughly 900 kids. #backpackcampaign22 #travel #explore #alaska #giveback #volunteer #yulistaCares #adventure #gooutside ...