Calista Shareholder Supports Typhoon Hiring Effort
Storyknife, January/February 2026 edition
Calista Shareholder Felicia Wassillie grew up in Scammon Bay with ties to Chefornak. Since 2011, she has built a career in HR—starting at Calista headquarters in Anchorage and currently at our Calista Brice holding line.
When Typhoon Halong hit the Calista Region, Wassillie had been in her current role as HR business partner for a little over a year, overseeing human resources for five Calista Brice subsidiaries. It was her responsibility to quickly lead the hiring of approximately 20 local crew members in Kipnuk for the holding line’s emergency work in the village.
In her 15 years in HR, Wassillie says she hadn’t experienced anything quite like the typhoon response hiring.
“A big part of HR is that we quickly put on our thinking caps, and if it comes to helping the employees, we try to go the extra mile,” Wasillie says.
One big concern was if the local hires in Kipnuk with damaged or destroyed homes would have forms of identification necessary for employment eligibility verification (the federal Form I-9).
“Thankfully, all of the hires had good documentation to provide,” she says.
Another issue was setting up payroll for local hires without direct deposit and no way to receive a paper check due to the Kipnuk post office closure. Those individuals ended up traveling to Bethel on flights arranged by Calista Brice to set up a bank account so they could get their paychecks deposited.
A big part of HR is that we quickly put on our thinking caps, and if it comes to helping the employees, we try to go the extra mile.
Felicia Wasillie, Calista Brice HR Business Partner
The HR team also had some difficulties due to phones disconnecting in Kipnuk, but otherwise, the hiring went smoothly under the circumstances.
“I couldn’t have done it without my [HR] team. We worked late several days to get all of the folks onboarded and situated,” Wassillie says.
Overall, Calista Brice employed 28 Calista Shareholders in typhoon relief efforts through November 23, for a total of $402,000 in wages, with related work expected to continue through December.