Staff Family
Staff Family
Benjamin David Kennison
Chairperson to the Board of Directors
Born in England, Benjamin lived in multiple countries before moving to Boonville, NY as a high school senior. Benjamin is a third-culture kid. He purchased Camp Benjamin in 2010 and has been working with Wholesome Living as co-director since its beginning in 2012. During his time guiding experiential education at environmental camps, he understood a need for connected community and environments for growth. Benjamin earned his Permaculture Design Certificate, while creating and managing a garden project on-site at Camp Benjamin. He’s invested in many ways to be in harmony with Nature. He also has an extensive background in sales and marketing, having worked in Europe and the US East Coast with a number of multinational companies. While working in sales for the campground industry, Benjamin was inspired to create Camp Benjamin as a micro campground and center for regeneration. Benjamin likes hanging out with his dog and cats, meeting new friends, picking berries, and planting trees.
Ash Fletcher
Founder/Program Director
Ash is a perpetually developing yogini. She has become a sojourner accepting her spirit of wanderlust and experiencing different cultures and communities. Yoga found Ash during her training as a dancer, the in-depth kinesthetic wisdom provided through the practice and the ancient heart of yoga appealed to her and she began daily study and teaching of yoga at age 18. Her travels and studies have taken her through 49 of the the United States, and throughout Central and South America as well as Europe. Studying dance and movement and performing professionally through her undergraduate years she was able to develop her strengths as an artist. Later her passion to teach led her to earn her BS in Education and after 4 years in outdoor education and 4 years in the classroom she also earned her MA in International Education.
Molly Kessner MPH
Board Member
Molly is a longtime outdoors enthusiast living in the PNW. Her public service began in 2003 while running a summer outdoor school for children of U.S. soldiers in Bavaria, Germany. Upon her return to the US, after graduating from the University of Oregon, Molly was an outdoor education instructor throughout New England for 1.5 years. Her favorite courses to teach were plant ID, yoga, physics of frisbee golf, and natural facials. Continuing on that path, Molly took a position as Director of the Los Angeles County Summer Science School in Big Bear, CA. Proceeding her two year tenure at LACSSS, Molly relocated back to the east coast to pursue a master’s degree in Public Health. After graduation, Molly took a position with the Department of Veterans Affairs that has lasted for 13 years. Molly’s favorite Wholesome Living initiatives are working on community gardens/farmers market, yoga, and community cooking classes.
Helen Kennison
Board Member
Helen was born in England and raised in a small village, surrounded by fields, woods, country lanes, and hedgerows rilled with flora and fauna. Her love of the outdoors led her to study horticulture then, years later floral design. Helen’s interests have always led her down the path of creativity, recycling, and reusing. Her current creative work includes paper making, art, junk journals, fiber arts, weaving, gardening, food preservation, cooking and entertaining.
Timothy Salazar, Ph.D
Board Member
Timothy is the director of Data and Analytics in the College of Continuing Studies at The University of Alabama. He has worked at Texas A&M Univeristy, Southern Methodist Univeristy, and the Univeristy of Utah. He is an expert on program evaluation, assessment of student learning outcomes, grant evaluation, and research methodology. His research interests are in process improvement and utilization of data to maximize process effectiveness. He has presented his research at numerous national and international conferences.
He currently lives in Tuscaloosa Alabama with his wife Dr. Amelia Salazar and his step-son Noah.