YulistaCARES Delivers 900 Backpacks to Students in the Y-K Region
Storyknife, November/December 2025 edition
In August, YulistaCARES, a nonprofit formed by our subsidiary employees, delivered 900 backpacks filled with supplies to students in six villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region.
Additionally, YulistaCARES donated over $2,400 to help support the relocation of the Mertarvik school from Newtok after the village had to relocate due to erosion.
Backpacks with supplies were delivered to the Y-K communities of Mertarvik, Nightmute, Kongiganak, Kipnuk, Chefornak and Eek. Each year, Yulista staff travel to different Y-K villages.
“Students received backpacks on the second day,” says Shannon Rennaker, Ayagina’ar Elitnaurvik principal in Kongiganak. “It’s a big impact on the students, the parents and the community. They thank me as if I’m the one responsible, but I tell them we have this fantastic group from Yulista coming in who donated the backpacks.”
YulistaCARES was formed by employees from Yulista Holding, Calista’s aerospace and defense contracting holding line based in Huntsville, Alabama. This year, Yulista CARES raised enough money to purchase 1,700 backpacks with school supplies and donated them to the six Y-K communities, as well as Lower 48 communities where Yulista operates.
Older siblings are happy for their younger brothers and sisters as they start the school year.
“The younger kids will be excited because these school supplies will help them throughout the year,” says Keon Fancyboy, a 12th-grader in Kongiganak.
We are especially grateful to Grant Aviation for donating the charter flights to the villages for Yulista employees and for delivering the backpacks to the Y-K Region.
One 12th-grader, Delilah Erik of Chefornak, is ready for the school year as she plans for college.
“It feels good to be a senior because I want to go to college to be an ultrasound tech,” Erik says.
It’s a big impact on the students, the parents and the community.
Shannon Rennaker, Ayagina’ar Elitnaurvik Principal in Kongiganak
“I was in the delivery room when my brother’s girlfriend was having a baby, and it looked cool to see them scanning the stomach.”
Erik plans to pursue a degree in the medical field at the University of Alaska Anchorage or University of Alaska Southeast. As the youngest, she’s excited to be the first in her family to attend college and hopes to make her older siblings proud.
“It’s great to have the backpack because I can carry everything I need like my supplies, shoes and books,” says Roxanna Paul, an 11th-grader in Kipnuk. “As a career, I want to go into dentistry because it’s important to keep your teeth healthy.”
Paul still has two years in high school but looks forward to going into school for dentistry in Anchorage, Fairbanks or even Washington state.
Students in each village were excited to start school and receive backpacks with supplies. The students in Nightmute even arranged a yuraq performance to share Yup’ik dance with the visitors from Alabama.
“Yulista’s donation is truly something that’s needed and it’s making an impact on our students lives,” Rennaker says. “They may not be able to see the impact, but it’s happening. Thank you for your support, Yulista.”