My Town – Abby Yeager

Executive Director

Happy Camp Community Center

My Town: Positive Change…

Happy Camp is my hometown, although I wasn’t born here. I didn’t even live here as a child, though I spent Christmas and summers with my grandparents. It wasn’t until high school that I moved here from the Bay Area to live with my grandparents when my mom lost her job.

In the middle of my sophomore year, I left a school of more than 2,000 students to attend a school of just 127. I only knew one person, a cousin in my class. Although I was shy, I was surprised at how fast I made new friends. I found myself here. I got involved in sports, and I got a job at the grocery store. I loved living with my grandparents in their awesome home they had built 30 years prior. At 17, I even met my future husband the night I was crowned Bigfoot Queen at Bigfoot Jamboree, an annual festival in Happy Camp over Labor Day weekend.

A scholarship from The Ford Family Foundation took me to Chico State, where I majored in business, then got my MBA. After college, I lived in Redding with my future husband and was executive assistant for the then-vice president of Owens Healthcare.

My husband, who was born and raised in Happy Camp, and I were ready to start a family, and we wanted to raise our kids in Happy Camp. Large property and a unique, fixer-upper overlooking the Klamath River were waiting for us. We returned to Happy Camp in 2012, after my first son was born. Quickly, I started immersing myself in the community. I joined the Bigfoot Jamboree Committee and did some work for the Karuk Tribe. I loved staying home with my two boys, but I also missed using the knowledge and creativity I had acquired through school and working.

Returning to Happy Camp after almost a decade away, I saw how time had changed my town. The high school was down to just 60 students. Limited jobs and lack of infrastructure pushed families to urban areas. I wanted to make a bigger change for Happy Camp, so I started my own nonprofit and began a certified seasonal farmers market that accepted EBT. In 2017, an opportunity to take over another nonprofit came along. Renamed Happy Camp Community Action, we retained existing services like emergency food, energy assistance and mental health support. However, we refocused on youth programs like First 5 and literacy activities, and we gained trust and support from our community. Our nonprofit operates the Happy Camp Community Center out of a 5,000-squarefoot building we now own. Our nonprofit has tripled in size and created great partnerships within and outside of Happy Camp.

I’m so proud to be a part of Happy Camp. I’ve been amazed at how our town rallied together after the 2020 Slater Fire. I love that I can be a part of permanent change. Last year, I was fortunate to partner with some incredible people to create the first-ever licensed childcare facility inside of the Community Center in Happy Camp. I love my job; I love being a force for positive change in my community…my town.

Photo by MC Hunter Photography