Scenes from the RWJF Culture Of Health Award celebration dinner

As part of the prize for winning a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture Of Health Award last month, the Sitka Health Summit Coalition received money to host a community celebration dinner. The dinner took place on Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Sheet'ká Kwáan Naa Kahídi, with guests receiving a dinner of local coho salmon, tofu, arugula salad, Alaska Flour Company barley cous cous (from Delta Junction), and a vegetable medley with carrots and other veggies prepared by Beak Restaurant owner/chef Renée Jakaitis Trafton.

Guests were treated to a couple of videos — one produced by Sitka's Owen Kindig for the RWJF application and the other produced by RWJF representatives who came to Sitka for a site visit in August and interviewed several Sitkans. There also were discussions of partnerships, youth needs, and reconciliation. And there there were door prizes, with two bikes, helmets, and other bike equipment, plus a reflective jacket and ice cleats presented to three winners.

There will be a lunch and learn event at noon, and a discussion of ways to use the $25,000 prize money from 1-4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13, in Room 229 at the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus. If you can't attend to submit your ideas for using the prize money, you can find cards in a display at the Sitka Public Library or you can use this online form to submit ideas by Feb. 14.