• Careers
  • Member Services
    • Tribal Member Enrollment
    • Tribal Member Services
    • Tribal Fishery
    • Tribal Member Benefits
    • Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance
    • Kenaitze Store
  • Newsroom
    • Media Releases
    • Our Stories
    • Newsletters
    • Annual Reports
    • In the News
    • Media Contact
  • Contact
(907) 335-7200  vimeo  facebook flickr

Kenaitze Indian Tribe

Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina

  • Home
  • About
    • Kenaitze Indian Tribe
    • Mission
    • Procurement
    • Culture
      • Kenaitze Culture
      • Dena’inaq’ Huch’ulyeshi
      • K’beq’ Cultural Site
  • Tribal Government
    • Constitution
    • Tribal Council
    • Committees
    • Ordinances
    • Tribal Court
      • Henu Community Wellness Court
      • Ts’iłq’u Circle
      • Tribal Court Codes
    • Annual General Membership Meeting 2020
    • Annual General Membership Meeting 2021
    • Annual General Membership Meeting 2022
  • Services
    • Tyotkas Elder Services
    • Emergency Help
    • Food Cache
    • Energy
    • Housing
    • Burial
    • Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault
    • Family Services
    • Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
  • Dena’ina Wellness Center
    • Preparing For Your Visit
      • About the Center
      • Customer Service
      • Privacy Practices
      • Rights and Responsibilities
      • Registration Packet
      • Release of Information
      • Un’ina Services Handbook
    • MyHealth
    • Medical
    • Dental
    • Behavioral Health
      • Sobriety Services
    • Wellness Services And Gym
    • Rehabilitation Therapy
    • Lab & Pharmacy
    • Optometry
    • Traditional Healing
    • Purchased and Referred Care
  • Education
    • Dena’ina Language Institute
      • Audio Dictionary
      • Grammar Book
    • Early Learning
    • Yaghanen Language And Cultural Programs
    • Community Education (College And Career Support)
    • Child Care Assistance

Traditions Carried On

June 6, 2018

Tribe celebrates First Fish Potlatch

Dena’ina Elder Helen Dick participates in a cloth ceremony before the First Fish Potlatch’s final dinner. The ceremony was an opportunity for the group to come together as one, to recognize those who have passed and to receive a ceremonial gift recognizing the event. Dick helped guide the preparations for the special event.

Under ever changing weather on the Cook Inlet beach, members of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe and invited guests from other tribes in the region came together for the First Fish Potlatch during the first weekend in May.

“Today we celebrate our first fish, as we have been doing for thousands of years,” Liisia Blizzard, Tribal Council Secretary, said in her opening prayer.

Tribal Council Chairperson Wayne Wilson Jr. acknowledged the past and looked to the future in his opening comments.

“This is an opportunity to celebrate our educational fishery that we’ve had here the past 29 years,” Wilson said. “I believe in our rich and common heritage as we continue our educational fishery and move forward to attain a subsistence fishery. That is how we retain our identity, dignity, and how we will pass on our values to the spirit of our youth.”

The event was the culmination of months of planning. Joel Isaak and a team of volunteers prepared a traditional moose soup over fires on the beach using meat from a moose that came to the tribe during a ceremonial hunt last winter. Tribal employees and other volunteers worked on everything from activities for young people to blankets to give as gifts to visiting Elders.

Kenaitze tribal leadership recognizes Dorothy E. Hermansen, second from left, as the tribe’s eldest Elder during the First Fish Potlatch. From left, Council Member James Segura, Executive Director Bart Garber, Chairperson Wayne Wilson Jr., Vice Chairperson Bernadine Atchison, Council Member Jennifer Showalter Yeoman, Council Member Liisia Blizzard, Hermansen and Treasurer Clinton Lageson.

One Elder, Dorothy E. Hermansen, of Kasilof, received special recognition when she was presented with a necklace in honor of her role as the tribe’s eldest Elder. She spoke of her love for the beach and how she continues to fish commercially.

The two-day event began with an opening ceremony and fish soup dinner on Friday night. It continued Saturday with a full day of activities. Singers and dancers from the Anchorage-based Ida’ina K’eljeshna (Friendship Dancers) group performed, as did Kenaitze’s Jabila’ina Dance Group and Del Dumi Intertribal Drum Group. A hail storm pushed the Kenaitze dancers to perform under large white tents that had been set up for the weekend.

Steven Holley, of the Ida’ina K’eljeshna group, said they were happy to be in Kenai for the potlatch.

“It’s a carrying on of the traditions since I was a kid,” he said. “It’s carrying on my traditions with Kenaitze.”

Near the closing of the potlatch, Joel Isaak led all those in attendance in a cloth ceremony. Everyone formed a circle under the tents. Then Isaak started passing a long, continuous piece of decorated cloth down the circle. Once the circle was complete and everyone was connected to the fabric, he explained the ceremony was an opportunity for the group to come together as one, to recognize those who have passed and to receive a ceremonial gift to recognize the event. Dena’ina Elder Helen Dick helped guide the preparations for the special event.

The only fresh fish at the event were buckets of hooligan Sharon Isaak brought from farther up the river. Some were cooked on sticks over the campfire; others in a deep fryer. They were shared with Elders and introduced to the youngest in attendance. And just like the salmon that started showing up a week later, they were celebrated.


Members of the Ida’ina K’eljeshna (Friendship Dancers) group perform at the First Fish Potlatch. The group is based in Anchorage and has members from across the Cook Inlet region.

Jeanie Maxim enjoys a performance by Kenaitze’s Jabila’ina Dance Group.

Jimmy Starkloff, Clinton Lageson and Joel Isaak serve up moose soup cooked over campfires at the tribe’s fishery during the First Fish Potlatch.

Filed Under: Stories

Kenaitze Indian Tribe

Locations

Kenaitze Administration • (907) 335-7200
Dena'ina Wellness Center • (907) 335-7500
Education and College and Career Support • (907) 335-7667
Tyotkas Elder Services • (907) 335-7280
Na’ini Family and Social Services • (907) 335-7600
Kenaitze Tribal Court • (907) 335-7219

Directions & Maps

Photos

All Photos

 
Copyright © 2023 Kenaitze Indian Tribe · All rights reserved. Website by Sundog Media, LLC Logo Sundog Media, LLC.

Heidi King, NCAC II, CDCS

Recovery Support Manager/Counselor
Heidi has eight years of experience in the chemical dependency field. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a minor in Women’s Studies, from the University of Alaska. She is a nationally accredited Chemical Dependency Clinician, and a state accredited Chemical Dependency Clinical Supervisor.

Heidi has a background in providing residential chemical dependency counseling. She is certified as a Conflict Resolution and Relapse Prevention Trainer with the National Association of Addiction Counselors. She is also a certified Peer Supports Trainer and Supervisor through the Alaska Commission of Behavioral Health Certification.

When she’s not serving un’ina, Heidi teaches yoga as a certified and registered instructor. She also enjoys hiking, fishing, and spending time with her child, spouse, and numerous pets, camping all over Alaska.

Heidi provides chemical dependency counseling services in group settings and individual sessions.

Heidi can personally relate to chemical dependency and is passionate about helping those seeking recovery supports. For Heidi, healing is community, and community is an important part of connection with one’s self. She sees the positive ripple effect that healing can provide throughout the community.

Fridrik Rafn Gudmundsson, MSW, LCSW

Recovery Support Manager
Fridrik has earned his master’s degree in Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. He studied massage therapy in Iceland, and became fascinated with the mind-body connection. He completed his undergraduate degree in philosophy with a psychology minor.

Fridrik has had the opportunity to live in four countries and to travel to many others. He counts finding and marrying the love of his life and adopting his son among his greatest accomplishments. He is grateful to be able to live in this beautiful and sacred part of the world and to serve the Tribe and un’ina, “those who come to us.”

When he’s not serving un’ina, Fridrik loves spending time with his family, hiking, kayaking, camping, fishing, traveling, and having fun. He enjoys learning, listening to music, and taking time for spiritual practice.

Fridrik provides assessments and individual, family and group psychotherapy at Chuq’eya Qenq’a, Birch Tree House.

For Fridrik, coming to the Kenaitze Indian Tribe felt like coming home. The more he learned about the Tribe and its history, as well as the history of the Alaska Native people, the more he knew he had found a place to be of service.

Teresa A. Ford, MSW, LMSW

Behavioral Health Clinician
Teresa earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Work at Limestone University in South Carolina, and her master’s degree in Social Work from Campbellsville University in Kentucky. Teresa’s experience includes serving homeless and other disadvantaged populations, as well as work in outpatient rehabilitation, hospice, chemical dependency, adult and adolescent counseling, and prevention.

Teresa appreciates the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s traditional values. She sees them as a driving force in how we treat ourselves and others, and how we serve those in need of help.

When not serving un’ina, “those who come to us,” Teresa spends her time bonding with her family, creating and traveling. She also enjoys learning about Alaska Native culture, exploring new hobbies, and gardening.

Teresa provides individual, family, and group therapy services. Teresa takes a variety of approaches to therapy, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Trauma Focused Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Teresa has always been a helper at heart. Being able to overcome the things she experienced growing up in South Carolina empowered and inspired her to help others navigate through their life journeys.